


The Marchioness of Torino

by Iona_Albuquerque



Category: Europa Universalis (Video Games), Historical Fiction, Original Work
Genre: Alternate History, Character Death, EU4 Inspired, F/F, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:48:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 25
Words: 153,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25889092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iona_Albuquerque/pseuds/Iona_Albuquerque
Summary: An EU4 inspired alternate history about a powerful Duchess in northern Italia in the 16th century. We follow Teresa di Savoia as she matures from a carefree teenager to a diligent administrator of the March of Torino, to a cunning diplomat negotiating with Dukes, Kings, and even Popes, to a competent general. The story of a woman who goes from a mere heiress to royalty in her own right, told through a pair of secret, lesbian romances throughout her life. Originally posted on Fictionpress in 2018-2019.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 9





	1. The Jerusalemite Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so, I am a fan of Paradox Interactive and their games, particularly Europa Universalis IV. During a Savoy to Sardinia-Piedmont run in late 2018, I was inspired to basically turn this experience in a video game into a piece of alternate history fiction.
> 
> I wrote this back in 2018-2019 so my writing here isn't as good as it is now, however, I wanted to post the story here to see if anyone was interested and to see if I should begin writing here regularly. I'm also more used to the FFN/Fictionpress UI so I'm not really sure if I'm doing all of this right, but I'm going to try and post all 25 chapters as they originally were on here. The word count will be different than the one on FFN because author's notes work differently here than they do there, and also because I'm updating the author's notes to go with the new context, but other than that, the actual content is not being edited.
> 
> All that being said, I hope you enjoy this story I wrote over a year ago, please let me know!

Act I.

The Heiress of The Duchy of Savoy.

Chapter I.

The Jerusalemite Visitor.

* * *

I was born in 1541 to Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II di Savoia and her husband Gianmaria I d'Este, who became known as Gianmaria The Pious, at the time of their wedding he was heir to Ferrara, however, in the time since The Habsburgs have come to rule that particular Duchy, leading to the worrisome revelation that ruling family of Austria - the family whose heirs were practically guaranteed to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor - once again had their eyes on Italy. The Italian states have spent the last century trying to assert their independence as foreign powers seek our lands. First, there was The Aragonese, who fancied themselves as overlords of Naples and Sicily, however, The Neapolitan War for Independence repelled them and Ferrante I declared himself King of Naples and Sicily, pushing Aragon off of The Italian peninsula and severely damaging their reputation in Europe, much to the delight of the power hungry Castillans. With Italy free of Aragon, then came offers of marriages and alliances with France, England, Burgundy, and Austria, all seeking more land and more control, this diplomatic invasion was seemingly stopped when Pope Guglielmus I convinced the four powers that their combined might could finally break The Saracen menace and take The Holy Land, thus, Europe's armies ravaged The Ottomans and The Mamluks before establishing Catholic control of The Holy Land and raising The Kingdom of Jerusalem. This did little to tame desire for Italy, in fact, Europe's powers were more than happy to test their crusade hardened armies against their neighbors, all the while, The Italian states bickered amongst ourselves with armies more and more reliant on foreign mercenaries, this leaves us here in Savoy in a precarious position, bordered by France and Burgundy and only just emerging as independent from The Holy Roman Empire, all the while only The Ligurian Sea separates us from Spain's holdings in Corsica and Sardinia, because of all this, we were searching for powerful allies to leverage against our aggressors, hence, I was to host a visit from the Princess of Jerusalem, Isabelle, product of the marriage of a French supported Provencal crusader as Jerusalem's King and the sister of The King of England as Queen.

I was chosen because I'm the same age as her and because of our relatively similar positions - I was named Marchioness of Torino, the title once referred to the ruler of Piedmont, however, since the March became part of The Duchy of Savoy, the title came to refer to the heir to the throne, which my mother ensured I would be even after my younger brother was born - this was certainly unconventional, as succession almost always favored males, my mother herself only rose to the throne when her two brothers died - one due to sickness, the other died in The Siege of Albenga during the Savoyard-Genoese War - Giovanna Vittoria I before her had merely ruled as a regent for her young son, very unlike my mother whose rule is absolute, despite the objections of my traditionalist father - my mother is quick to remind him that he no longer has any power outside of our Duchy. Isabelle meanwhile remains the sole child of the Jerusalemite royal marriage as her father insists that his wife is incapable of birthing a son, given how tightly knit the thrones of France, Provence, and Jerusalem are, these remarks only raise tensions between France and England, all the while Burgundy and Austria continue to scheme and gain power while the unified thrones of Castille and Aragon seek to make Spain an even greater power than it already is, all the while the states of Italy struggle to keep their independence now that we exposed ourselves when we rejected the authority of The Holy Roman Empire, so needless to say, tensions were high all across Europe as I prepared for Isabelle's visit, choosing to host her from the northern reaches of The Duchy, meeting at our family's estate on Lake Geneva.

The Duchy of Savoy currently consists of our capital Chambery in Savoia itself, our largest city Torino in Piedmont, as well as the counties of Cuneo, Nice, Monferrato, the recent addition of Albenga in Liguria, and two Swiss cantons: Vaud and Valais. On the Italian side, we border The Duchy of Milano, a state almost as large and almost as strong as us, however, relations between us was largely cordial, to south was Genoa, a declining but wealthy republic who has not been as friendly to us, hence we recently waged war against them, expanding our coastline in the process. Beyond Milano lies Venezia, a large and wealthy republic that has traditionally controlled trade in The Mediterranean, however, The Ottomans, Spaniards, and French seek to dispose both Venezia and Genoa as the maritime powers of The Mediterranean, Florence to the south is a rich banking power, however, their military ability isn't overtly impressive, the minor states of Mantua, Ferrara, and Siena are similarly unimpressive, the rest of the peninsula is divided between Naples in the south and The Papa State in between, both are large and power countries, however, neither seems particularly inclined to assist the rest of Italy - The Papal States are mainly concerned with their own interest and The Pope is aware of his special position and the fact it means he's hardly limited to the same obligations as a normal monarch, meanwhile, the young Kingdom of Naples practically considers itself a whole world apart from the rest of Italy, the southern nation refuses to waste its time on the bickering of the northern states, hence we looked beyond our regional borders for allies.

We would be alone other than the villa's staff - we weren't quite going so far as to create an alliance, this visit was just meant to build good will between our nations as the first step of a process eventually leading to an alliance.

I waited just outside of the estate for her arrival - she arrived in Nice by ship and then here to Lake Geneva - I was dressed in a red dress with white trim, behind me flanking the door to the estate itself were two guards, local Swiss mercenaries hired to protect the outside of the estate - they weren't trusted enough nor necessary to allow inside, our dependence on mercenaries was certainly a precarious issue, however enlistment for our professional army remains pitifully low. On my side stood Marie, the handmaiden who would serve Isabelle during her stay here, and Lucrezia, my own handmaiden. I smiled and watched as her carriage arrived and stopped a few meters away from me, a man came down from the reins and prepared to open the door for my guest.

"Introducing the blessed virgin Isabelle York de Valois, Princess of Jerusalem, heiress of The Holy Land, child of England and Provence, blood of Kings Richard IV of England and Rene III of France, her beauty and mind be only matched by the finest in Christendom!" Royal introductions were long and very grand, I should know, I had my own after all. I watched as the servant opened the carriage and Isabelle descended in her gold and white dress, she was roughly the same height and weight as I was, her hair was black and her skin, despite her English and Occitan heritage was an even tan - I had to imagine that this was due to exposure to the desert sun in Jerusalem.

"Greetings and virtues Isabelle of Jerusalem," my handmaiden began "I present to you Teresa di Savoia, Marchioness of Torino, heiress to The Duchy of Savoy, The Duchy of Monferrato, The Principality of Piedmont, The County of Nice, The Canton of Vaud, The Canton of Valais, and The County of Liguria, may she continue the great and holy reign of The House of Savoy."

"Hello Isabelle," I greeted, the royal formalities were over - I dropped the d'Este name when my father lost his power, I was fully aware that the marriage was purely political, my mother wanted all the power for herself and she would have it all while my father grumbled about it but lacked any means to resist, my mother largely left him to his devoutness and his search for alleged heretics - Isabelle's servants prepared to lift a chest containing her possessions "Welcome to Savoy,"

"Thank you Teresa, this is a lovely country." she replied as we walked into the estate itself, the two handmaidens directly behind and her servants behind them.

"Indeed, from the Ligurian coast to the vineyards of Monferrato, to these mighty Alps." I gestured to the mountains all around us, a beautiful sight any time of the year, from the luscious green peaks rising from the summer fog to the bright white winter snow, The House of Savoy really did hold a rich and diverse slice of Italy, a slice that we were determined to defend and control, regardless of the mounting threats from the great powers of Europe and from our own neighbors vying for supremacy of the peninsula.

"I wish I could say the same about my country, despite relentless efforts from soldiers and mercenaries alike The Kingdom remains very dangerous outside of the walls of Jerusalem itself, but if that's the cost of holding The Holy Land, then I suppose it's worth it." she replied, somewhat somber - I doubted she would be comfortable enough to elaborate fully just yet, but I could definitely imagine that things were far from easy for The Jerusalemite Monarchy, the great city simply lacked many of the amenities that the courts of Provence or London would be used to - soon the city would, given that Jerusalem was considered so holy and so vital that each and every Catholic head of state paid tribute to Jerusalem, from Archbishop-Princes to Doges to Dukes and Kings to The Holy Roman Emperor himself, even his holiness The Pope makes sure his newfound subjects in The Holy Land are well taken care of, however art, architecture, conversion, and modernization take time, so for now, the crown jewel of The Catholic world is little different than what the heathen Saracens reduced it to over the last few centuries.

"You will have no such worries here however, we're in a safe and luxurious estate under the protection of a well paid garrison, you will be served entirely by the handmaiden Marie - she is a native French speaker who is additionally fluent in English and Piedmontese Italian - she will be more than capable of understanding any order you can give." I didn't want - or need - to expressly share that the garrison was made up of mercenaries, nor were such politics necessary right now, our parents and ambassadors can handle the political aspects of this relationship, we were merely planting the seeds of good will, we were merely the first step - a much more important step would come when my father would visit King Robert I himself while on a holy pilgrimage, however for that to happen, this meeting had to go well - and so far, it seemed to be going well, Isabelle definitely seemed to be trying to hide quite a bit of enthusiasm - again, this was definitely a very different place than Jerusalem was.

Two Swiss pikemen opened the grand entrance into the estate for us - they would only get a brief glimpse of the interior - and Isabelle and I entered the estate, the main hall was decorated in white and gold with predominantly red furniture, the walls were filled with the portraits of various Savoyards Dukes and Duchess, including my mother and her namesake Duchess-Regent Giovanna-Vittoria I, I knew that one day my portrait would be on these walls, Duchess Teresa I di Savoia - however, I would surely have time, my mother was merely 36 years old - my father was 43, his first marriage was to a Habsburg princess who died along with her son during childbirth, Gianmaria wanted to disinherit himself and retreat to a monastery, however, his aging father persuaded him to remarry for political reasons - not that it stopped the Habsburgs from claiming the throne of Ferrara, which they ensnared in web of royal marriages to begin with - hence Gianmaria was known as The Pious. In any case, back to the present, I have a guest to entertain after all.

"This shall be your room, a spacious place including a large bed, a bath, and an excellent view of Lake Geneva" I said to Isabelle as we reached the second floor of the estate and I opened her door "and as I said Marie will service you, feel free to rest after your long trip, we will have plenty of chances to spend time together and enjoy the wonders that Savoy has to offer, there's no need to rush."

"Thank you Teresa," she replied "The voyage and then the wagon trip was certainly exhausting. My servants shall leave my belongings and then I'll dismiss them, I'm certain that your hospitality will be more than enough for me."

"Very well my new friend, should something arise, I will be in the estate's library attending to my studies." despite the royal visit, I was still expected to spend at least a little bit of time with my tutor, Brunella insisted that I learn the all of the various dialects of Italian, French, Castillan, and English, saying that I needed to be versatile as a ruler and that I needed to be prepared should the most advantageous husband be a foreign one - I was well aware that the royal customs meant that I had no choice but to accept whatever particular political marriage my mother deemed best, it would have little to nothing to do with whoever - if anyone - I actually came to love, but such was the circumstance of my otherwise privileged birth.

* * *

The flag of Savoy was a central white cross on a red background, in the four corners of the cross, were the letters FERT - our dynasty's motto was Foedere et Religione Tenemur - We are bound by treaty and religion - a rather suitable motto for a state in Catholic Europe, where treaties and alliances are a constant phenomenon as each and every state attempts to subjugate its neighbors, its friends, and its enemies alike, regardless of comparative size or power - should the Duke of Milano decide to become King of Spain, he won't let Milano's weaker position stop him, he'll use marriages, favors, perhaps even assassination to maximize his chances at getting what he wanted, and his rivals would go just as far as to stop him - this is merely an example, as far as I know The Milanese Sforzas aren't attempting to usurp The Spanish Borgias. The Borgia and Sforza are both young and ambitious dynasties, the Sforza only rose up after the last of The Visconti died off about a century ago whilst The Borgia pledged their allegiance to Castille against their Aragonese homeland, the dynasty's head, General Fernando de Borja was married to a Castillan princess, suspiciously, his brother-in-law and heir to the throne died on a hunting trip, in any case, when Fernando's cardinal cousin was named Pope, The Borgia name suddenly meant something and the dying Castillan King reluctantly named Borgia as his heir, thus Fernando II Borgia of Castille rose to the throne and he quickly moved to unite Spain after Aragon was left weak and embarrassed by the rise of Naples. Castille was dominant over Aragon and Navarra was already a vassal, Fernando II became ruler of all of Iberia except for the very rich and very powerful seafaring nation of Portugal. All around Europe powerful nations were growing ever larger and ever stronger, every day more of Ireland falls to England as The House of York attempts to unify The British Aisles, meanwhile France has long ago crushed The Bretons and effectively acts as overlord to both Provence and therefore Jerusalem - very dangerous for us given that France considers Nice and Chambery as their rightful territory, meanwhile The Habsburgs in Austria consider the entire Duchy to be their rightful territory as part of their Holy Roman Empire, east of The Empire is Hungary, a large but declining state that The Habsburgs have come to rule, beyond that, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth shields Europe from outside threats, The Jagiellon Kings have eliminated The Crimean Khanate and halted the western expansion of Russia, north of all this lie Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, bickering Scandinavian Kingdoms at each other's throats since the collapse of The Kalmar Union, and here on the shores of Lake Geneva we're not very far from The Burgundian border, Europe is a very dangerous place right now and a rolling pebble could easily turn into an avalanche in these conditions, the only good side is that right now it seems like The Italian peninsula itself is at peace, though even we're not safe from a bloody conflict that will likely drag in all of Europe and perhaps even beyond.

Needless to say, politics were a stressful matter, so once my studies were over, I went to my bedroom and had Lucrezia prepare me a bath - I was certainly capable of bathing myself however my handmaiden was willing to help and besides, I enjoyed it when she bathed me - her hands were quite soothing and I trusted her in these matters - I hardly saw it as particularly unusual, it was just bathing and if my handmaiden's presence made things more comfortable for me, then so be it, besides, given just who my current visitor was, it was very important to be as clean and as impressive as possibly, I had to communicate that Savoy was a wealthy and powerful state with a high standard of living by modern standards to impress The Jerusalemites, make it clear that an alliance would be mutually beneficial - we were aware that such an alliance risked war with The Ottomans and Mamluks who seeked to recover their lost territory from the newly reformed Kingdom, however, given the situation around us, this was a risk that we were willing to take - after all, The Ottomans and The Mamluks were distant enough as to not provide a direct threat for our own country. I seriously was spending far too much time thinking about politics, I really did need to relax and hopefully this bath would get me there, this wasn't a political meetings, Isabelle and I were merely building good will, chances are she'll eventually have a younger sibling that will become heir to Jerusalem and she'll never end up in an actual position for power, as for me, well, I'll deal with that hurdle once I get there.

"My lady," Lucrezia summoned me "The bath is ready."

"Thank you Lucrezia," I lowered my body into the warm and soothing water and I let the young woman wash my stress away, I looked around my room, the design was intricate and screamed of wealth, a white décor with golden trim and red furniture, my large poster bed was surrounded by white curtains - I enjoyed my privacy while asleep - which I do recognize is rather strange coming from someone who is being bathed by another girl - opposite of my bed was a set of decorative swords flanked by the flags of The Duchy of Savoy and The Duchy of Monferrato - a simple flag with a thin red band above a much larger white one - the two primary titles of The House of Savoy - this wasn't common bedroom furniture however my bedroom also doubled as my own private sanctuary here on the shores of Lake Geneva where I often spend the summer months, hence there were various chairs and couches throughout the room, a desk, and even a small bookshelf - only a fraction of the size of any of the shelves of the estate's library, however, it suited my purposes. My room also had access to an excellent view of the lake and of The Alps around as beyond a set of curtains was the doors to the balcony.

Most of the year I spent back at Chambery in The Chateau de Chambery, where my mother held court, when I reached maturity in a few short years I'm supposed to move to Torino to administer my current title of The March of Torino, though once my mother dies or abdicates, I will return to our seat our power in Chambery - there's no reason to change the capital after all, The Duchy of Savoy should have its capital in Savoy, even if we've largely dropped our French customs for Piedmontese ones, even if we're associated more with Italia than France - indeed even I consider ourselves to be Italians now - however, our origins are in France and for the foreseeable future, as is our seat of power. I do admit however, moving our capital deeper into Italia may be the smart move just to distance ourselves a little bit more from our powerful potential enemies in France, however, as long as we remain in control of our French and Swiss territory and as long as we don't need to centralize our Italian holdings - something that we would have to do should we wish to expand into the peninsula proper, it makes more sense to govern a large Italian realm from Torino which is culturally and geographically indisputably Italian rather than the culturally and geographically French city of Chambery, however, for now, in our multicultural duchy where Swiss, Italian, and French meet and mix, our Chateau which its rich history of Savoyard Dukes and its important status to the realm itself - after all only Torino and Nice are larger. In any case, it was certainly a privilege to be the heiress of such a wealthy and powerful Italian state even as the larger and stronger countries in Europe threaten to descend upon us.

Once I had finished my bath Lucrezia helped me dry off before I dismissed her for the night, thanking her as she left. I put on my nightgown and I climbed into my bed, shutting the curtains behind me and pulling the warm covers over me as I rested my black-haired head on pillows and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning I waited in the dining room as the servants prepared a lavish breakfast for Isabelle and I, the sun came over the center of the table from the large window, slowly but surely causing the morning fog to dissipate, again, I must stress that the natural beauty of this region of The Duchy was simply unmatched, I loved my country and I hope its people did too, it is so beautiful and so diverse, from these mighty, mighty mountains around this beautiful lake to the flowing hills of the vineyards of Monferrato to the sandy beaches of The Ligurian Coast, who else could boast such natural diversity in a comparatively small area? Very few Dukes, Kings, or even Emperors could boast such a domain, therefore, I was very pleased to see Isabelle pause and admire the view before she took a seat near me and joined me for our upcoming meal.

"Hello Isabelle," I greeted my new friend "I trust that you slept well?"

"Yes I did Teresa," she smiled "Thank you very much, so far your hospitality has been legendary."

"The Duchy of Savoy is very good to her allies," I smiled in return "Later today I'll take you for a tour of the area, the local villages and the shores of The Lake, I promise you'll enjoy it."

"I'm sure I will," she replied "It certainly is beautiful, I wish Jerusalem could be more like this."

"Thank you," I noticed a very clear longingness in her voice, she loved Jerusalem and she certainly understand the significance of The Holy Land, however she misses the natural beauty and the standard of living of Europe, and could I blame her? In many ways my mission here was to show her just how much better our Duchy was than her Kingdom in order to draw the attention of her father and her King, however it did pain me to see a girl who was so much like me - same age, similar rank, same level of education, and seemingly compatible personalities based on what I've experienced thus far - with such a pronounced sadness in her voice, I'm sure that she intended to hide her feelings on the matter, however she had that momentarily slip up and I certainly noticed.

"Tell me about yourself Teresa," she requested - I had to wonder if she had any real friends in Jerusalem, I mean given that The Kingdom was established rather recently, there's not much of a European style nobility for her to socialize with, however, in any case, I was happy to do my best to become her friend regardless, she's a poor little thing - yes she's blessed with a life of wealth and royalty but it takes more than gold and titles to make somebody happy, we're a strange, selfish, and lonely race of people, every man or woman needs friends or they'll be driven mad with boredom and loneliness.

"Well I've been groomed as royalty for my entire life, I'm sure you're familiar with that aspect of our way of life," she nodded as I spoke "I've been taught history, English obviously, French, Castillan, and all of Italia's dialects, I've been trained in statecraft, even battle and war..."

"War?" Isabelle asked, quite surprised - and for good reason too, it certainly wasn't common for women to command armies in battle, however Giovanna Vittoria II was Duchess of Savoy, which meant that if we were to enter a major conflict, my mother would be the one to lead our armies into battle, whether the soldiers are finally the professional army that we are determined to construct or the mercenaries that we have thus far been dependent on, she would be the one at the helm - though I did doubt that she would actually advance on foot in the heart of a pike-and-shot formation - she was far too important to lose in battle - instead she would be on the front lines commanding her army to fight, and, when the time came and my mother eventually left the throne for me, I would then be expected to repeat her feats should the situation present itself, hence, even now I was taught the basics of how to fight a war.

"Yes, I'm first in line for the throne, if I need to lead Savoy's forces into battle one day, I need to know what I'm doing." I explained.

"Wow..." Isabelle seemed to be imagining herself in such a position "You're very brave, even if my parents let me learn the art of war I couldn't imagine myself on the battlefield."

"Thank you Isabelle, I smiled as my servants began to bring food in "However, there's no need to worry about war here, we're safe and sound, shielded from the dangers of the outside world by these mighty Alps."

"Very well then," she responded "What else do you do?"

"Now I don't get very many chances to do this, but I love to go out of the palace whenever possible, I like to explore the various villages of The Duchy, I want to meet the people that I'll one day rule over, I went to see the tress and the mountains up close, I want to feel the fresh grapes in the vineyards, I want to see all the wonders that Savoy has to offer." I felt very passionate about this subject, I didn't understand how I was supposed to become a monarch if I was always kept inside a palace or an estate, I felt that no amount of education or information could beat any real experience - I didn't want to hear about the state of the mercenaries, I wanted to see it, I didn't want to be told about the bickering of nobles, I wanted to go to the nobles and here both sides of the problem before using my power to resolve it, I didn't want to find out about a food shortage, I wanted to see it for myself - I wanted a more direct relationship with the people who I will govern - that's not to say that I intend to give power to the peasants or even to the nobles, I intended to rule just as absolutely as my predecessors, I simply wanted to be as well-informed and as experienced as I possibly could be when I'm making these decisions.

"Ooh!" Isabelle's head perked up even more, I could definitely tell that she was fascinated "You must show me!"

"That's what I intend to do today," I smirked as we began to eat.

* * *

"Where are we going now?" Isabelle eagerly asked as we walked away from the last of the villages we visited, I had a special surprise in store for her.

"Follow me, I found this spot a few years ago, there's a hill with an excellent view, you'll love it!" I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me, we were having an amazing day, everything fascinated her, from the natural beauty of the area to the lavish homes of the local nobles to the towering European churches - obviously Jerusalem did have its own churches and more were being built every day since the establishment of The Kingdom, however, as of now, the largest and newest churches in Jerusalem aren't very much more impressive than what's become a standard Catholic church in Europe - whether its a towering medieval Gothic Cathedral or an older yet elegant Romanesque church or the newer Renaissance churches harkening back to the wonders of antiquity.

I took Isabelle up the hill and lead her to my special spot, we reached the top of the hill and looked out at the brilliant reflection of the setting sun across the smooth waters of Lake Geneva, the sun itself which would soon disappear below the massive Alpine peaks around us, the beautiful estate below us, we sat down on the grass and just looked across the world below us - it was bliss, just myself and Isabelle with this beautiful view, our servants have kept their distance all day and now was no exception - I knew that they were close enough that they would appear when needed, but otherwise, it was out of sight and out of mind. I watched as the sun began to disappear underneath The Alps to the west, I felt Isabelle's warm hand in my own, this moment just felt perfect, a rare moment of bliss away from politics or tutoring, this was what I needed and I could only imagine that this was exactly what Isabelle has been longing for, I turned to face her, she was absolutely delighted, her smile was effectively a constant today and I could see the reflection of the setting sun in her beautiful brown eyes, hers meant mine.

"Isn't it perfect?" I asked.

"Almost," she whispered, coming closer - I knew it wasn't right, I knew that we were both women, however, I also knew that it felt so right, I knew that I wanted it and now, I could tell that she wanted it, so with her whispered invitation, I closed the distance with a kiss.


	2. One Dirty Little Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So while editing last chapter, I had to learn how to format on AO3, that was fun. Anyway, I know now, so I should be able to post the rest of the story within the next few hours, as I'm just copy-pasting the Fictionpress version and then fixing up the formatting. So this is chapter two and, with it, I'm going to give a warning that this story includes some offensive, period appropriate language such as the word "Saracen." Note that this does not reflect my beliefs, just that, even back in 2018, I was striving for a degree of historical accuracy.

Act I.

The Heiress of The Duchy of Savoy.

Chapter II.

One Dirty Little Secret.

* * *

The next morning I sat alone on a bench looking out across Lake Geneva, the estate behind me along with the girl who was filling each and every thought going through my head. I knew that I had sinned, I knew that our kiss was far from platonic, I knew that it was driven by primeval lust, but what I didn't know is why I felt this way...there's nothing suggesting that I'm possessed, I don't think I've gone mad, but surely something has to be wrong with me, I mean such passion for another of the same sex definitely isn't acceptable in Christendom...but I liked it so much, even now I long for the warmth of her smooth hand, for the feeling of her red lips pressed against mine, I feel it in my mind, I feel it at my core, but I know that I shouldn't. I have no idea what I should do, I have no idea who I should even ask for help...I knew that I was privileged in that I was royalty, but if my mother found out, would she protect me? would she reveal my secret to the clergy and disinherit me? I didn't know, for the first time in my life I felt helpless. I dropped my head to my hands and sobbed, woe is me.

"My lady," I turned to look at Lucrezia as she walked over and joined me on the bench "What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you," I sobbed, Lucrezia tentatively placed her hand on my back - that only made me cry more...is this why I enjoyed her baths? Was I inadvertently using my own servants to satisfy my own lust? I hated this, not only did I have to worry about all these political concerns, not only did I need to worry if I was worthy enough, competent enough to replace my mother as Duchess, but now I had to worry about my lustful desires...now that it's out in the open, will I ever be able to close off those feelings again? Who even knows what other sinful things I've done without realizing - it's not like I could simply tell Lucrezia or anyone else for that matter, while sure some popular beliefs have changed slightly due to the rise of Renaissance thought and the discovery of The New World, but such things like the ones I held for Isabelle were certainly not acceptable.

"Yes you can Teresa," Lucrezia said sternly, defying royal protocol "I'm not just your handmaiden, I'm your friend, you can trust me."

"Promise you won't tell anyone," I whispered, if she would promise I would trust her, I need someone to talk to about this, I need someone's help, and if Lucrezia can provide that for me in my hour of weakness, I'll be very grateful.

"Teresa I would never -" she began before I interrupted her.

"Promise." I insisted.

"Okay," she nodded "I promise I won't tell anybody."

"I kissed Isabelle." I whispered, careful to be quiet enough that no one else would overhear us.

"You kissed her?" Lucrezia was also whispering, she definitely understood that I was trying to keep this secret, I certainly didn't want my mother or the clergy to hear about this, nor did I want Isabelle to know that I told anyone about it.

"Yes," I wiped my tears away "We went up to the hill overlooking the Lake, the view was beautiful, she was beautiful...I just couldn't resist..."

"What did she say?" Lucrezia asked.

"She kissed me back, but we haven't spoken since, I don't think either of us know what to do." I admitted.

"Teresa..." Lucrezia said after a brief pause "You know that such feelings are forbidden..."

"I know..." I groaned "Believe me, I wish that I could stop it."

"...Can I ask you something?" she requested, I simply nodded in response "All those years that I gave you baths, was that..."

"I don't know," I admitted "I don't know myself anymore, I don't even know what I've done without even realizing, this is just now coming out!"

"Okay, okay," she grabbed me by both of my shoulders "Listen Teresa, how do you feel about her?"

"She's beautiful Lucrezia, the kiss just felt natural, and now...now I can't stop thinking about her, each and every thought going through my head..."

"Then maybe the best thing to do is to talk to her and resolve this together." she proposed.

"You really think so?" I asked.

"Yes Teresa," she answered, we sat silently together for a few brief moments afterwards, both of us no doubt deep in thought.

"Hey Lucrezia," I got her attention with a weak whisper.

"Yes?" she asked.

"This won't change anything, will it?" I asked meekly.

"I'm still your handmaiden and your friend Teresa," she sweared "and don't worry, your secret is safe with me,"

"Thank you," I hugged her, sobbing into her shoulder for a brief few moments, I knew now that I never appreciated her as much as I should have, Lucrezia had spent so long dealing with all my issues and all my drama, and even now, at my darkest hour, she was here for me, she even considered me her friend, and from now on, I certainly consider her my friend as well.

* * *

A short while later I stood outside of Isabelle's door, I took a deep breath and remembered Lucrezia's advice, for better or worse my guest and I were on the same page, we had both committed the same sin and we both had to deal with this together. I closed my eyes and exhaled as I took a tentative knock - my body was alive now, I could feel a blush on my cheeks, certain areas grew enthusiastic as I thought about seeing her again, her deep tan from the Jerusalemite sun, the sun reflecting off of her elegant cross pendant just above her neckline...not to mention what lies below...no, I had to compose myself, I was here to deal with these feelings, not to let them overcome me, I knocked again, a bit more roughly this time - I didn't want to spend anymore time alone with my own thoughts, not until I can get this resolved one way or another, but these sinful things slithering their way through each and every corner of my mind certainly weren't helping me either way. Fortunately, the door eventually opened, Isabelle stood in the doorway, we stood there in silence for a moment, keenly aware of how little distance was between us...I didn't know what happened, surely I didn't magically develop these feelings overnight, surely they were here before, but either way, the fact is that these feelings have now surfaced and now I've seemingly completely lost my self control...did Isabelle also feel this way? I had no idea, for all I know she's been aware of herself for years...or what if the opposite was true? What if Isabelle simply considered our kiss platonic? I mean I considered it far too long and far too passionate for it to be anything other than romantic, but I had no idea what was going through her head...I didn't even know how to deal with what's going through mine, let alone my guest's.

"Can I come in?" I asked, blushing even more when I realized the implication that my wording may have implied a very different intention.

"Oh...yes, yes of course Teresa," Isabelle seemingly zoned out, strange given that we were having eye contact...was she looking into my eyes? This could've even turned into a second kiss if I hadn't interrupted it, but in any case, that combined with how flustered The Jerusalemite Princess had gotten after my question suggested that Isabelle and I were indeed in the same boat, now we just had to figure out what to do about our mutual feelings...which was certainly something that was easier said than done.

"So...we kissed..." I started awkwardly, I didn't know what to do now that we were here - being together with Isabelle again was just driving my thoughts insane, some were downright beautiful and romantic, others were lustful and perverse, and quite frankly, right now I didn't want either group of thoughts, though it's clear that my mind had already made its decision and I had no say in the matter.

"Yes...we did..." Isabelle was similarly awkward, neither of us particularly wanted to acknowledge what had happened but it's become clear that now neither of us had a choice, we'd drive ourselves mad if we didn't do something about these feelings, I just wish that I knew what we could do, I wanted a solution to our problems but my brain was far too preoccupied with generating sinful thoughts.

"I don't know what to do," I groaned, sitting down on her bed and holding my face in my hands...I wasn't sure if I was going to start sobbing again or if I was just going to set here, helpless, desperately hoping for a solution that simply didn't seem to be there, I didn't bother looking up as Isabelle walked over to the side of the bed and sat down to the right of me, resting her hand on my right shoulder, once again my body was practically electrified just by her proximity, all these powerful feelings that I knew were wrong, all these powerful feelings that I had to keep in check, all these powerful feelings that every bone in my body wanted to act on but that I simply could never do.

"Teresa," Isabelle pulled me back up "look at me,"

"Okay," I turned to face her, keeping my eyes soft, I didn't want to find out what would happen if I looked her deep in the eyes again, just like we did on that hill yesterday and just like what almost happened at the door.

"I liked it, I liked our kiss," she whispered, we were alone in this room but both of us still knew that keeping this secret was paramount, for now, only the two of us and Lucrezia knew, unless Isabelle had decided to tell someone, but I doubted she was close enough to share such information with anyone else, not even Marie, her temporary handmaiden - its only been a day and we've gotten completely sidetracked with this diplomatic visit, we were supposed to build good will but now we were stuck with this massive mystery of ourselves, unearthing feelings that perhaps never should've reached the surface, feelings that certainly had nothing to do with our diplomatic mission, however, here we were, and this was a hurdle that we definitely needed to overcome. I couldn't simply avoid Isabelle until she left, nor did I want to, once we could silence these sinful thoughts I still wanted to learn more about her, I still wanted to make her happy...though now with what I know now, I couldn't necessarily say if my interest or my compassion was strictly platonic.

"I liked it too," I whispered in reply, I felt my eyes tearing up, I was an emotional wreck right now and I have no idea what to do with my feelings - part of me wants to tear Isabelle's dress off and ravish her, another wants to close myself off from her and hope and pray that these feelings go away, the rest of me just doesn't want to be in this situation - but I was well aware that I simply couldn't lie to Isabelle's face and tell her that I didn't enjoy the kiss, my feelings overwhelmed me, my primal instincts overwhelmed me, my lust overwhelmed me, and hers overwhelmed her, the fact is that the kiss happened, the fact is that the kiss unleashed all these feelings from wherever they were hidden - I didn't know why Isabelle in particular triggered these feelings, why didn't any of the baths with Lucrezia trigger such a release? Perhaps I was merely attracted to this one girl rather than all women, or perhaps I was indeed attracted to all women and I simply didn't register the baths as romantic or sexual, however, that long and passionate kiss between myself and The Jerusalemite Princess certainly wasn't platonic, it was definitely romantic, the desire behind it was inherently sinful, that I simply couldn't deny, hence, here Isabelle and I were trying to resolve this - but how can I resolve anything when my mind simply can't focus on an appropriate topic?

"Yes," Isabelle pulled me more onto the bed so that we were both sitting fully on it and we were facing each other "It felt so good, didn't it?"

"It did," I admitted, trying to look away but Isabelle kept making me look into her eyes, her lovely, beautiful eyes, eyes that I could get absolutely lost in...how could I accomplish anything when I couldn't even look her in the eyes without my heart fluttering and my nether regions awakening?

"Well how can something that feels so good be wrong?" she asked, the desert temptress was now in control, yesterday when we first kissed, I felt like I was in control, but here, things are completely in Isabelle's favor, she's seemingly figured this out, or at very least accepted it, she had managed to return to a presentable state whilst I was absolutely ragged - my eyes were soaked with tears, my dress was wrinkled from crying bent over, and given that my mental state was just as chaotic this morning, my appearance wasn't ideal to begin with - but Isabelle, despite seemingly having had been just as unstable when I walked in, she has found her drive, she has a goal, and it was clear that I was that goal.

"Isabelle -" I tried to complain when I felt her finger on my lips, silencing me, she gently shushed me and came closer.

"No one needs to know that we kissed, no one needs to worry about what happens between us." she said calmly.

"But -" I tried again, once again in vain.

"Teresa," she said a little more sternly "Yesterday you were simply magical, you were confident, you cared about me, you were adventurous - you left the estate and took me to see the area, you took me up that hill, you kissed me - the person you were yesterday...I want that person again."

"Isabelle," I groaned "I don't know if I can be that person anymore, yesterday I didn't know this part of me, yesterday I thought I was normal, I thought that I was a good Catholic, a good ruler."

"And who's to say you can't still be normal? who's to say that you can't be a good Catholic, or a good ruler?" she asked, I don't know what happened, but it seems that kiss awakened more in Isabelle than merely feelings, this was the real her, this was the personality hidden behind the rigid façade of The Princess of The Holy Land, this is what I wanted to find from within her, and it seems that she wanted to explore herself even more, not only that, but it seems that after yesterday's events, she wanted me alongside her while she did it.

"But the clergy -" once more my objections fell on deaf ears.

"And who's going to tell the clergy? I'm certainly not going to be the one to do it." she smirked, she was definitely determined, she'd take any objection that I could throw at her and she'd simply throw it right back at me, and I guess that she had a point, right now, only me, Isabelle, and Lucrezia knew, I could control myself in that aspect, Isabelle is clearly determined to remain silence, and I had already sworn Lucrezia to secrecy, surely we weren't going to be kissing in a cathedral, we would do such things in privacy, which we had at this estate - even our most trusted servants, even Lucrezia and Marie wouldn't simply barge in on royalty in private, they would knock and they would be patient, no one here was going to question the authority of the future Duchess of Savoy, and no one was going to be stupid enough to question her guest of honor. I knew that these feelings were very complex, I know that The Church teaches of the union between a man and a woman, but I also knew that I felt something deep and emotional for my new friend, I also knew that I was a strong and intelligent woman, I knew that I was destined to be the most powerful person in The Duchy, I would deal with these feelings, I wasn't going to be beaten by fear or self-doubt, I am Teresa di Savoia, I am The Marchioness of Torino, and I will have my Jerusalemite Princess!

"Nor am I," I smirked, coming closer to Isabelle and letting the last of my tears flow away "You want the old me?"

"No," Isabelle replied "I think I want the new you,"

"Then you shall have it," for the second time in twenty-four hours I closed the distance between myself and Isabelle, it wouldn't be easy, it wouldn't be simple, but Lucrezia was right, Isabelle and I need to deal with these feelings together, and I can assure you, we will be together. I leaned into her and she laid back, I climbed over her and held my hands on her hips, not letting her lips escape me - Isabelle was right, how could something that felt so good - and I can assure you, to say that this felt good was an understatement - be wrong? After all, this was only natural after all - I felt her open her lips and felt her tongue asking for access, I obliged, opening my mouths and allowing my tongue the privilege as well - now we had gone farther than even we had yesterday, our kiss was getting longer and longer, it was getting more and more heated, it was pure passion, it was bliss - I wish that we could've stayed like that for hours, however, soon enough we had to break the kiss, so we laid there, gasping for breath and looking into each other's eyes - I wasn't afraid anymore, Isabelle told me that we didn't have to worry about the clergy, I knew that I didn't have to worry about them or anyone else, no one needed to know, not even Lucrezia needed to know that we kissed again in this bedroom, this moment was just between us, this was our moment.

I felt her hot breath against my mouth - we were that close - I didn't care anymore about the consequences, I only care about Isabelle, my Jerusalemite Princess, the beautiful tanned body below mine, my skin and hers was only kept apart by our dresses, I wasn't sure how far this was going to go, I didn't know if I intended to strip her down and have my way with her or if we were only making out, all I knew is that either way, I was loving it, and no matter what happened in here behind that wooden door, it would be our dirty little secret. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to find out, as just when I was leaning in for our next kiss Isabelle and I recoiled away from each other with alarm at the sound of a knock on the door. I quickly stood up and composed myself, straightening out the wrinkles in my dress while Isabelle quickly fixed her clothes and the sheets below her, sitting up on the bed, making it look like we were merely having a conversation, so, once we were satisfied with the façade we put up, I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Oh hello my Lady," Marie greeted with a somewhat confused look on her face "I didn't know that you were here,"

"No problem Marie," I spoke confidently once more, having recovered from my chaotic sadness of this morning "I came here to talk to my guest in private, I realized that Isabelle and myself have barely had a real conversation despite all the time we've spent together."

"Oh okay, I understand," Marie's confusion dissipated "I merely wanted to ask Isabelle if she wanted me to wash her dress from yesterday - I promise I won't be a bother, just give me a moment."

"Very well," I let Marie in and she recovered the dress and left with it, taking it elsewhere where she'd have it cleaned and pressed nicely for my Princess, after all, The Duchy of Savoy needed to be nice to our guests and potential allies. I was somewhat concerned about how easy it was to lie to Marie, who had been one of my trusted handmaidens for so long - so much so that I trusted her with taking care our Isabelle - I didn't want to become a dishonest person, I didn't want to be able to tell lies as easily as I could recite my own name - I wanted to be a good person, I wanted to grow up and become a good ruler when the time comes, and I wanted to be a good Catholic while doing it - despite the nature of my sexual desire - however, this was meant to be secret, if I hadn't been in such a delicate emotional state, I may have not even told Lucrezia - Lucrezia, my most trusted handmaiden, the girl who I trusted more than Marie, more than even members of my own family, the girl that I trusted at my most vulnerable moment - when I'm completely naked and completely helpless in a bathtub, locked in a room with only me and her - even she could've been a potential risk, I did trust her, but a woman of lesser stock than her could very well have lied to my face and ran off to tell the clergy the moment I left - though again, I had Lucrezia's word and I trusted her to within an inch of my life - my point is that my desire, my romance, dare I say my love for Isabelle is a very controversial matter and no one else needs to know a word of it - if we can maintain such a level of privacy, if we can time our moments correctly, if we can avoid any overtly public displays of affection, then this whirlwind romance of ours can be sustainable, but, I was equally aware that we needed to tread carefully, for this may well end in tears. You know, these last few days had been so absolutely hectic that I barely had time to consider that soon enough Isabelle will have to leave this estate and sail away to The Levant...then what would happen between us? Would that be the end? I didn't know, but what I did know is that she's still here, I'm still here, and for now, nothing else matters.

"You played that well," Isabelle congratulated me as she got off the bed and made her way over to me, she grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the balcony, I gladly obliged and we opened the double doors, coming out into the midday sun and looking over Lake Geneva, seeing the reflection of the clouds and the shining glare of the sun, a beautiful sight, a sight very similar to the sight of the Lake we had from the hill, a sight very similar to the backdrop of our kiss, a sight very similar to the spot where our relationship began - Lake Geneva was a very large body of water, I'm sure that tons of people have meant their husbands, their wives, their lovers, their mistresses, etcetera, etcetera here, however, that didn't change the fact that for us, the unlikely pair of an Italian heiress and a Jerusalemite Princess, this was our spot, this was where our whirlwind romance began just a day ago, I wasn't sure what would come of this, as I've said, this could be love, this could not be love, this could be a lifelong relationship maintained despite the immense distance between us, or perhaps this is merely a fling that will only last as long as the duration of this diplomatic visit, I didn't know, and quite frankly, I didn't care, because no matter what happened between Isabelle and I from this point forward, we did have something between us, she exposed my true sexuality, my true feelings, and I did the same to her - we had managed to make something that, if nothing else, completely linked our hearts and our minds for a short yet blissful period of time, if nothing else, I will always remember that during this beautiful summer of 1555, Isabelle and I had something special here on the shores of Lake Geneva.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked, still holding Isabelle's hand and gently running my thumb across her knuckles, enjoying the physical connection between us, I smiled and looked at her, but she was still looking out far in the distance, seemingly mesmerized by Lake Geneva, by The Alps, and by the intense natural beauty of The Swiss cantons of The Duchy of Savoy, but that made me happy anyway, this girl, this girl who I very well may love - I still wasn't entirely sure of my feelings and I doubt that she was entirely sure either, but there was no need to label our relationship just yet, right now, I simply wanted to enjoy these moments, I loved to see her enjoying the natural beauty, she was born and raised in Jerusalem after all, a beautiful city, a Holy city, but a city that's beautiful in a very different way than The Alps and Lake Geneva, an area of green trees, blue water, and towering peaks compared to an ancient collection of Holy sites in The Levantine Desert, and, I suppose that, to Isabelle, this could symbolize her European origins, The Kings and Queen that she descended from, the wars they fought, the marriages they made, the love and the hate between the royal families of the continent, from the rise of Charlemagne to the political marriage that resulted in her birth, the political marriage that was to solidify Catholic rule of The Holy Land and to finally bring peace to the historical rivals of France and England, however, all this history, all this prestige, all the monuments and Kingdoms built by the blood, sweat, and tears of her ancestors, Isabelle was disconnected from all of that, she grew up in an ambitious but flawed Kingdom, an important one but a distant one, dependent on sea trade with The European powers due to The Ottomans and The Mamluks blocking any and all land routes to The Holy Land, this was Isabelle's first time on this continent with all its beauty, all its history, and all its significance, to be experiencing such a crucial and lifechanging revelation in the midst of all that must mean that my guest has a lot on her mind, but no matter what, I was right here, patiently waiting to bring her back down to Earth.

"Yes, you are," she turned and faced me, once again we locked eyes, once again we stood inches apart, once again Lake Geneva was our backdrop.

"I thing you're beautiful too," I let go of her hand and put my arms around her waist, pressing her body into mine, meanwhile, Isabelle took the hint and she put her arms around my neck, we didn't care about the risk of being seen, not anymore, my earlier worries and my inner questioning meant nothing to me when I felt her warm embrace, no amount of consequences or lectures could overshadow the fluttering in my stomach when I looked into the two deep chocolate orbs that were her eyes, the insecurity I tried to bury under a façade of confidence dissipated at the notion that in mere moments our lips would once again share that electrifying touch that I felt yesterday and then again a mere few moments ago, the feeling that I now longed for, I took a deep breath - I wanted to last as long as it physically could, Isabelle followed my lead - and soon enough, we closed the distance again, thus, just like our first kiss was than twenty-four hours ago, my Jerusalemite Princess and I were kissing above the shores of Lake Geneva.

"What are we, Teresa?" she asked when we broke the kiss, I wasn't quite sure when, but it seems that after Isabelle showed me that my feelings mattered more than the potential consequences, some point after that the balance of power had shifted again, now I was once again in control, now I was the one with emotional stability, I was the one who would be leading us through our next hurdle, but I was okay with that, to me, it didn't matter which one of us was currently the dominant player in our budding relationship, because now, I was just happy that we had a relationship, I was happy that I recovered from my emotional turmoil not just intact but in a better place, I restored my façade of confidence and I gained some actual confidence on top of that, because for the first time - and, for all I know, perhaps the last time - in my life, I wasn't alone, I wasn't one girl maturing into a woman with the burden of one day administering a realm weighing heavily on my shoulders, now I was a girl who had another girl on my side, sure this relationship could very easily lead to many more problems, however, those would be problems that we could deal with together, they wouldn't just by my problems, they wouldn't just be Isabelle's problems, they would be our problems and we would work together to solve them, such as solving the mystery of what exactly our relationship is.

"Does it matter?" I asked, vocalizing my earlier thought.

"What do you mean?" she asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Does it matter what we are as long as we're together?" I asked, smiling at her, these arbitrary labels didn't matter, I didn't care if we would be lovers or if we would be girlfriends, all that mattered is that we would be something.

"Oh," she pondered "I suppose it doesn't,"

"It doesn't Isabelle," I gave her a quick peck on the lips before telling her my plan "Come on, we'll spend the rest of the day in here together, tomorrow I'll show you another one of my secret places."

"I'd like that," she smiled and grabbed my hand as we walked back into her room, shutting the balcony doors behind us, our relationship was secured, it would be secret but it would be a deep and passionate relationship, and I was looking forward to each and every moment of it, this would be our dirty little secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was more emotional and my younger self may or may not have made you cringe, but I hope you liked it! If you're actually reading this as I post it, please note that I'm trying to post this all in one evening but I don't really know AO3 yet, so please, forgive me and be patient. Otherwise, hello future readers! I can only imagine that my teenage writing is aging worse and worse as time goes on, but I think I had a pretty good idea back then and I want to share it to a new audience, an audience that perhaps isn't reading on Fictionpress.


	3. The Abandoned Castle of Romainmotier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked writing this chapter, it consists of Isabelle and Teresa getting to escape the strict requirements of growing up in royal life and getting to have carefree, fluffy, childish fun while enjoying their budding romance. I was also rather surprised to learn that this whole chapter was just one scene.

Act I.

The Heiress of The Duchy of Savoy.

Chapter III.

The Abandoned Castle of Romainmotier.

* * *

Obviously for women of royalty it was customary to wear dresses, however, given that Isabelle and I were going on an adventure - one that would require a bit of a hike - I felt that I was best to forgo a dress for today, instead I put on leather knee high boots over a set of white trousers with a short sleeved white shirt on top beneath leather suspenders, I had my long black hair loose and tucked behind my shoulders - I admired my appearance in our Venetian mirror - a very rare commodity but one that our family had a few of, between our estate here on Lake Geneva and our various palaces scattered throughout the Duchy - while the outfit was by no means the norm for women, I felt that it hugged my body perfectly, sure the nature of the outfit was more associated with men, but the version I was wearing looked distinctly feminine, it complimented my features, my curves perfectly, I enjoyed it very much. I turned to my left and saw Isabelle walking into the room, looking absolutely beautiful in her outfit - she wore a knee length brown dress with short sleeves above dark leather boots quite similar to mine, I pulled her into me and together we silently admired our shared appearance in the mirror, enjoying the closeness - I was aware that what we were doing is considered wrong, that it's immoral, however, it feels so good, and now, seeing us together for the first time - a feat otherwise impossible - I realized that not only did we feel good together, but we certainly looked good together, me and my Anglo-Provencal Princess from The Holy Land.

"So where exactly are we going?" Isabelle asked, all I told her is to prepare for a hike because we were going up to The Alps.

"Years ago I went exploring around here, one of the places that I found was an old and abandoned medieval castle, it's an amazing and historical place and, the best part is, up there, we can be completely alone." We wouldn't have to worry about clergy or handmaidens, we wouldn't be interrupted, it would just be the two of us with the mighty fortifications of our ancestors around us - I wasn't too sure exactly what we'd do there, but the point is that it's a beautiful and quiet place where the two of us can go and spend time together, perhaps we'll explore the castle further, perhaps we'll climb the stairs of one of it's towers and get a fantastic view of The Alps, the mighty towering trees, and below all that, Lake Geneva, or perhaps we'll simply go up there and enjoy some private time together, I didn't know but I was sure that once the two of us were there we'd figure something out - after all, as long as she was there, I knew that I was going to have a good time - not only were we in some sort of a relationship now, but I was also very much enjoying all the time that we were spending with each other during her diplomatic visit. Once we had finally managed to get past our emotional trauma and agreed to work together on this relationship, regardless of what the potential consequences could be, yesterday was an excellent time, we talked, we laughed, finally we came down and ate dinner before our staff got too suspicious of what we were doing, after that we reluctantly separated as I went to take a few lessons with Brunella, however, today we'd have no such concern as yesterday I managed to convince her to give me today off, some precious free time that Isabelle and I would definitely use to our advantage.

"Ooh," she replied "I like your ideas!"

"I like you," I smiled and gave her a quick peck on the lips before moving across the room to the set of decorative swords beneath the display of the flags of The Duchy of Savoy and The Duchy of Monferrato, beneath that was a little wooden footlocker - this contained the actual swords - I grabbed a pair of rapiers - one for myself and another for Isabelle, while this area was fairly safe by the standards of Renaissance rural Europe, I would rather be safe than sorry, especially given that, unlike that trip that Isabelle and I took on that faithful day of our first kiss, this time we'd have no distant yet lingering escort of mercenaries and handmaidens, this time it would just be the two of us, hence a little bit of extra security for the best - now my mother had been sure to make sure that I would be at least somewhat competent with a weapon, after all she had me schooled in the art of war, but I knew that Isabelle didn't have any such training, however, I also knew that any thieves or other undesirables would rather wait for the easy and unarmed prey than to find out the hard way as to whether or not their combatant is skilled with a sword or not, hence, I handed her the rapier.

"Keep this with you, we want to be safe after all," I told her.

"Oh...okay," Isabelle definitely seemed a little surprised to be handed a weapon, however, I could also tell that this excited her, this was a whole new experience for her and I was very glad to be alongside her during it.

"Follow me," I told her and we essentially snuck out of the estate, handmaidens and tutors would hardly approve of such an adventure to a potentially dangerous place, especially given that we were armed with weapons - surely the staff would worry about us hurting ourselves or some other nonsense, the only problem with being royalty is that all the people who spend their lives pampering and servicing you come to think that you lack any actual practical skills, in fact, the very people who taught me how to fight with this rapier would probably be absolutely shocked at the mere idea of me actually using this weapon and the skills I've developed in personal habit, and I was aware that they probably had a point, I doubted that my skills would necessarily hold up in actual fighting - after all, the skills were meant to be seldom used, I, much like my mother is currently tasked with, was expected to lead troops once I eventually ascend to the throne of The Duchy of Savoy, but I was not necessarily expected to join my future soldiers on the front lines themselves, besides, a rapier wouldn't be the weapon for that anyway, as modern battles are fought with pikes and firearms in mighty pike-and-shot formations under the cover of artillery with the aid of heavy cavalry - however, as I mentioned, the rapier was mainly meant as a deterrent, as for if I actually needed to use it...well, in that case I suppose that there's only one way to find out exactly what my martial skills were worth.

We left the estate grounds and walked along the shores of Lake Geneva for now, I knew that the path we'd take uphill was still quite a ways off, for now the two off us were simply walking in a calm silence, enjoying each others company as the gentle waves came back and forth off of the shore a few feet to our right, I heard the sounds of the birds in the trees towering to our left - I very much enjoyed the area around Lake Geneva, I wasn't a fan of the idea that my privileged background meant that I was supposed to remain in a safe house or palace, leaving only when people who were meant to be subservient to me arranged various trips and visits for me, I wanted freedom to explore my realm, to see the people who would one day be my subjects, I wanted to know the reality of The Duchy of Savoy, not just here on Lake Geneva because I often did my exploring near Savoy itself, where I spent the vast majority of my time, and one day I'll do my exploring around Torino, where I shall soon rule as marchioness whilst waiting for my eventual ascension to the rank of Duchess.

"Have you ever gone on such a visit?" Isabelle eventually asked me, referring to the diplomatic visit that initially brought the two of us together.

"I've been on a few diplomatic visits," I admitted "However, none have been quite this life changing."

"That's sweet," she smiled, taking my hand now that we were a sufficiently safe distance from the estate - we were alone now - before asking me "Where have you been?"

"When I was young my father took me with him to visit The Duchy of Ferrara, his home and a throne that he was supposed to take had it not been for Habsburg interference, I've also been to Castille, to Burgundy, and to Naples." I had been on a fair few visits, likely given that, while I was merely heiress to a Duchy, that particular Duchy was a very important one, especially given our large size and our important location at the crossroads of France, Burgundy, The German states, and The Italian states, and that meant that, unlike the distant Kingdom of Jerusalem, these various thrones weren't all that far, I was well aware that this may be Isabelle's first ever diplomatic mission, especially given that, despite her current status, she was not expected to remain heiress - unlike my unique situation, she would be immediately disinherited by a male sibling, however, I was lucky in that my mother expanded on the work of my grandfather in giving males and females equal chance at succession - my grandfather did it to ensure his daughter would become Duchess give that no suitable male candidate existed, my mother did so in order to solidify her position - the people of The Duchy of Savoy weren't particularly against such a move, after all, my mother's namesake, Giovanna Vittoria I reigned before my mother as a regent for her underaged son, additionally, the people were quite pleased with the reign of The House di Savoia, our people didn't want to fall under foreign rule, a very real concern right now given that the great powers of Europe had their eyes firmly set on The Italian peninsula.

"You're lucky," Isabelle frowned "This is my first one."

"Well I'm glad to have been your first," I smirked, watching as the realization of my double entendre dawned on Isabelle, I saw her face shift from confusion to embarrassment, and finally, to laughter - while I hadn't been her first in that respect - well not yet anyway - I was happy to inject a bit of humor into our little journey, especially given that I couldn't decide if my Jerusalemite Princess looks cuter when she's blushing or when she's laughing - personally, I think a little more experimenting is needed to come to an accurate conclusion on the matter.

"I like this," Isabelle smiled, referring to our present closeness, there were no handmaidens to disturb us, no tutors to lecture us, it was merely the two of us leisurely making our way to our secluded destination with the company of nature around us - the sun was proudly in the sky today and few clouds dared threaten it today, therefore, there was no need to worry about rain, the path was fairly well traveled for the most part, so we didn't have to negotiate any particularly difficult ground just yet, and any natural predators would likely keep their distance, we were safe, we were sound, and, most importantly, we were together right now.

The Duchy of Savoy extended quite far past what's conventionally considered as The Italian peninsula, however, I liked it that way - Chambery is a beautiful little city and the home of our dynasty - even if we've largely adopted Italian customs and language, we were aware that our origins were French and our capital sat within the French geographic sphere - though its been centuries since The French were able to hold any authority over Savoy - Lake Geneva was within our Swiss cantons, so needless to say these territories were often in dispute with The Swiss Confederation, especially since we have left The Holy Roman Empire and thus Austria, as Emperor, is obligated to side with The Swiss, especially as that means that Austria can reclaim lost Imperial territory, however, we have repeatedly turned back The Swiss in wars - in those wars we tended to use mercenaries from places other than Switzerland itself, for obvious reasons, however, that was not always possible, further compelling us to try and raise a larger professional army, however, we continue to struggle at this goal. Given our precarious situation, we wanted to ally with one of Europe's greater powers - we figured that risking becoming part of another country's spheres of influence was better than risking getting conquered - however, we weren't sure who to side with, Spain clearly has ambitions on an Italian Empire, after all they rule Corsica and Sardinia and definitely want to reclaim control of Naples and Sicily, France definitely wants control of Nice and Savoy itself, therefore they could easily be the most direct threat, however Austria also has their Imperial claims, Burgundy meanwhile has similar ambitions as France, and we share a long border with them, England may be a safe choice, however, the distance between us makes them a questionable ally - similarly, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the massive eastern defender of Catholicism, could easily check the great powers of western Europe, however, their distance also makes them a potentially unreliable ally, that leaves us with precious few opinions. Jerusalem is distant as well but they can reach us rather quickly by sea - England could be knocked out of the fight by a Spanish blockade of The Strait of Gibraltar, other than Jerusalem, our interests are largely aligned with that of Milan, however, I doubt that even our combined power would be enough - and who else is there? Our other neighbor, Provence is ruled by a French cadet branch - granted it's the same branch that rules Jerusalem - and effectively acts as a vassal of their larger northern neighbor.

What I would do is avoid any treaties by law with the great powers, rather we would be opportunists, jumping into a war on the winning side and doing our part to earn a reward of land at whatever treaty ends that war, because with enough land, with enough power, and with some powerful clergy in our pocket, we could create a Kingdom, crowned by The Pope as a Queen and thus technically holding equal rank with our enemies - with the exception of Austria as The Habsburg Archduke is practically guaranteed to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, however, the validity of such a rank is being questioned more and more as states leave The Empire - the mass exodus of Italian states definitely hurt Austria's international standing, as does the bickering between exceedingly larger and exceedingly powerful German states - it's starting to become questionable if Bohemia, Brandenburg, and Saxony while remain loyal subjects to Austria, and if they leave, then that will effectively mean the end of The Holy Roman Empire - perhaps one of them could prove to be the ally we're looking for, but right now, our efforts concentrate on Jerusalem, and it's more than just my efforts concentrating on Isabelle.

"I like you," I gave her a quick kiss, we were here and we were having fun on our journey, speaking of, here our path turned off of the shores of Lake Geneva and started moving upwards, Isabelle and I followed as we headed for the abandoned castle of Romainmotier, a relic of the local history, a standing testament to the feudal warfare of The Middle Ages - The Renaissance is supposed to be a more civilized era, however, when I see armies at each other's throats with muskets, pikes, horses, and cannons, as I see castles just like Romainmotier torn apart by modern warfare - if not wrecked intentionally to make room for a modern installation such as a star fort - as I see pretenders to the thrones journey out on crusades or on voyages to The New World to steal power at any price, as I see deadlier and deadlier weapons invented each and every year, I have to wonder - is this what civilization is? Because to me, The Renaissance seems like the same brutality , merely brought on by superior weaponry and hidden under a façade of the rapid proliferation of art and architecture - much of it funded by the treasures of said wars - that is not to say that I don't understand the purpose of war, I am well aware that it's in a monarchy's best interests to become stronger, especially at the expense of its enemies, however, I simply question the idea of this being a more civilized age.

We followed the path exactly as I had remember, Isabelle didn't question me or complain, she was simply content to be in my company, and I felt the same way about being with her - we were rapidly becoming inseparable, even if both of us knew that such a relationship could only be temporary - The Duchy of Savoy and The Kingdom of Jerusalem were very, very far away from each other and, try as we might, there's no way to consistently stay in touch - letters take time to travel and given the consequences, we simply could not risk the chance of a disgruntled messenger reading our private correspondence or the letters somehow being intercepted by the clergy. I hated to admit it but when this diplomatic visit would end, I had to fear that this relationship would end as well - however, right now, there's no need to think about that, right now, Isabelle and I are still together, we were together exploring the woods, we were entirely alone, and we would have an entire abandoned castle for ourselves, Romainmotier would be ours - I had a feeling that I wasn't the first to utter the sentence, a testament to The Middle Ages, however, given the decrepit state of The Swiss castle, perhaps I would be the last.

The path veered off to the left, however, we didn't, we continued straight over an older, now grown over path - this was the rough patch we had to get through, this was why the both of us were wearing high leather boots - we stepped over branches and kicked rocks, we took turns helping each other up the local boulders - I'm sure that the path too the castle would have been clear and worn in at one point, but that time has long since past, now the path has disintegrated and parts of it were lost to the growth of plants and trees, parts were uprooted, others were covered by rocks dragged down here by melting snow and avalanches - needless to say The Alpine region was quite known for its snow and eventually, that snow accumulated too much and slid down the mountain, and if not, then the snow came down as water once it melted, when that happened, rocks, boulders, and other debris came down with it, hence we see these large boulders laying in the middle of our path, nevertheless, Isabelle and I overcame this obstacle, just like we've overcome every other obstacle thus far. The boulders and plants soon gave way and the path was clear again closer to the castle - likely due to being more heavily worn down by besieging armies, but in any case, we were almost there, we just had one last obstacle to overcome - we made our way through the trench surrounding the castle - now in The Middle Ages, castles did everything they did to prevent an enemy breakthrough, the moat was one such tool, now, stereotypically the moat was filled with water to make traversing it even more difficult - sure there were soldiers who could swim, but there were not soldiers who could swim in full suits of armor carrying a weapon whilst archers are firing down upon them - however, large amounts of water were costly to move, especially given that this castle is built high up in the foothills of The Alps, so Romainmotier had a dry moat, it was simply a logistic reality - or at least I think the moat was dry, perhaps this has simply dried up or emptied somehow, maybe The Swiss managed to fill a moat on the top of a hill, proving me completely wrong, granted if anyone was going to accomplish such a feat it would be The Swiss.

We climbed out of the moat - which most likely was dry but I admit I can't confirm - and onto the other side, walking over to the entrance, the old portcullis forever open - perhaps the end of the castle came when a traitor on the inside opened the palace for the besieging army, allowing whatever baron or count or whomever was in charge of the palace and the army occupying it, and I guess that besieging force didn't have a use for such a fortification - based on the damage to the outside of the palace and even here on the inside, this castle was likely obsolescent if not outright obsolete by the time it was taken, the damage is so extensive that the besieging army must have had cannons with them. Although I couldn't be sure quite yet - however, perhaps the combined efforts of myself and Isabelle could crack the mystery - I had to assume though that the besieger was either The Swiss or perhaps even us, we've ruled the area for quite awhile. In any case, what mattered is that Isabelle and I were finally together inside our private castle, the ruins of Romainmotier, it was by no means a lofty place anymore, it wasn't in good condition, and I certainly wouldn't want to sleep here, however, for today, this place was ours, I would be Baroness and Isabelle would be my consort, we would rule Romainmotier for a day.

"Wow," Isabelle exclaimed as we wandered through the courtyard just past the walls, the wide expanse did have the signs of damage from numerous sieges, however, all in all, the courtyard was in remarkably good shape - the burned and tattered remains of banners were still on the walls - whoever conquered this place clearly didn't feel the need to occupy the castle, simply to usurp the local leadership. The banners themselves I couldn't identify, they weren't modern flags that's for sure, they were regional medieval symbols - the banner of the local baron, a barony that obviously no longer exists, however, in this courtyard of this medieval castle towering in The Swiss Alps, here history is on full display, long gone banners still flew, long vacant thrones still sat silently, obediently waiting for a worthy claimant to fill them, however, as local history is lost to irrelevance, there may never be such a claimant - but today, for one day only, Isabelle and I would find that throne and we would occupy it. Speaking of occupations, when this castle was taken the besieging army evidently did spend some time here, not enough to bother replacing the banners but it's clear that either the besieging army, mourning locals, or scavenging thieves have come and bothered to bury the dead and recover the unexploded cannon balls, either to respectfully bury the dead and dispose of potential hazards - or in the army's case, perhaps trying to see if they couldn't reuse the cannon balls - or to loot the dead and sell off the ordinance.

"Follow me," I told Isabelle as I grabbed her hand and lead her out of the courtyard and into the castle itself - the torches had long since burned out so we were wholly dependent on natural light for vision, hence, we left the door open to allow more light in. I lead her up the stairs and deeper inside - I remembered the way to the throne room quite well, I always had very good memory - Isabelle obediently followed, she was content to simply be together with me, and to be honest, I felt the same way about her, right now, in her company, I didn't care about my ducal obligations, I didn't care that in a short few years no matter what I was to assume the role of Marchioness of Torino, administering the city and the surrounding area to prepare me for the role of eventually ruling the entire Duchy, I didn't care that around the same time my mother would no doubt want to politically marry me to a man who I now knew that I'd never love - I knew that I wouldn't gain any enjoyment or happiness from intimacy with a man, all these years and I never once had this kinda of romance, this kind of affection, perhaps even this kinda of love for anyone with of the male gender, but on that hill I was compelled to kiss Isabelle, I was instantly drawn in to something that I had never even considered, that kiss changed everything - I didn't care that western Europe was more than likely to get into a massive war in the next few years, what I cared about was the tan-skinned black haired girl at my side, a beautiful young woman with a body that would draw attention even if it wasn't the body of a Princess, and skin blessed by the intense desert sun over The Holy City of Jerusalem. I was also tan with black haired, however, the color of my skin is more due to my lineage than due to exposure to the sun - Moorish invasions of Sicily and Sardinia have left a lasting impact on all of the Italian people, directly in the case of The Sicilians and Sardinians, and through them, to the rest of us, however, there was no shame in that, for just like The Spanish and The Portuguese we have expelled The Moors and come closer to The Pontiff - who despite all the chaos of the past few centuries, still reigns in Roma - we are unlike The Iberians in two ways however, one: The Moorish influence is not as extreme on The Italians, and two: despite expelling The Moors, Italia remains very much divided, there is a single Italian Kingdom, The Kingdom of Naples, beyond that, all of Italia is ruled by either Dukes, foreign powers, or, in the case of Venezia and Genoa, is a republic.

We came into the throne room - now, obviously it has seen better days, the gold, silver, and other precious metals have been pried off of the throne, the artifacts have any value have long ago been looted, however, the crosses on the walls remained, the massive windows on either side of the throne remained, showering the run with light, but the throne itself was in the shade, a relic of the past now covered in darkness, however, that was merely the affect of the lighting, even if it was very symbolic of the end of an era - this was an any of Kingdoms and Empires, soon enough even Duchies would be largely meaningless titles of a begone era as more and more power is concentrated in less and less hands - I walked up the throne and sat down - the padding was worn down but still tolerable.

"Teresa I, Baroness of Romainmotier!" I declared, causing Isabelle to laugh at my over-the-top delivery "Why do you laugh, my lady? Aren't you aware that you shall be my consort?!"

"Consort?" Isabelle raised her eyebrows and smirked, that was it, I couldn't hold it in anymore, I burst out laughing at our silliness as she came over and sat down on my lap, much to my enjoyment "Very well then, I'll be your consort."

"Well then, blessed Isabelle of Romainmotier, what shall we do today?" I asked her, returning to our silly roleplay - both of us held actual titles of much higher rank than merely baroness, however, that wasn't the point, we were two teenagers who managed to escape from the stress and obligations of real life for a day, we came here to this old secluded castle, and, as it turns out, we turned it into the site of our play-date. I suppose both of us needed this, we were still young, merely fourteen years old, and in our childhood we hardly ever had the chance to actually play, we were always pulled away from the opportunity to play in order to be tutored in how to behave or useless facts we supposedly needed to know, we couldn't be dirty, we couldn't develop habits that were deemed improper of a future Duchess - or current Princess in Isabelle's case - our lives were incredibly structured and the closest things we had to friends were handmaidens and ladies-in-waiting - while yes, I do admit that our lives were luxurious and privileged, it was equally true that we were raised in a prison of luxury and privilege.

"Lets climb the tower!" Isabelle proposed with absolute excitement, excitement that I simply couldn't refused, we got up from our medieval throne and we found the doors to the spiral staircase leading up to the highest tower of the castle, we opened the doors and we rushed up the staircase - we were well aware that our leather boots banging against the wooden stairs was quite loud, we were well aware that our handmaidens and tutors would consider this very, very improper, but we didn't care, we rushed up the stairs, not caring that we were getting very dizzy from going in all these circles, we were two young women having some childish fun, this was youthful innocence, this was bliss, this is what both of us were missing during our upbringing. Soon enough we reached the top and we opened the door to the balcony, walking outside and steadying ourselves on the railing as we giggled and caught our breath - we were having fun! After a few moments we caught our breath and settled down, a calmness coming over us as we looked down at the forest below, and beyond them, to Lake Geneva, and in the distance on the shores of The Lake was our Estate, but we were very far away from there, this was just about us. I grabbed Isabelle from behind around her waist, embracing her as I tightened my arms around her stomach and rested my chin on her shoulder, not worrying or caring about what's going on at that distant estate. Isabelle turned her head to face me and I closed the distance between our lips. First the hill, then the balcony, and now the tower of the castle at Romainmotier, we were certainly getting more creative in terms of where we decided to kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I think I'm getting a hang of AO3, should be coming a bit quicker now. I realize there are quite a few minor grammar mistakes and I know that I really should go and correct them all, but I've already moved on and written new stories since then, I don't really want to go back and edit this older stuff when I could be moving forward on new projects. Still, I hope that your criticism of my older writing can help me improve my newer stuff even more and make me a better writer. I'm also willing to post some of the other stuff I've finished onto this site as well, especially if this story goes over well.


	4. The Ladies of Lake Geneva

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the penultimate chapter of act one already. Posting this chapter by chapter on AO3 and reformatting it really feels like a look through my writing history.

Act I.

The Heiress of The Duchy of Savoy.

Chapter IV.

The Ladies of Lake Geneva.

* * *

Isabelle and I had an amazing day yesterday at Romainmotier, however, today we were back at the estate and I had my obligations again, I'd need to have a long visit with Brunella later - two days worth of lessons - and I needed to make up for lost time in numerous other matters. Before any of that however, I had a scheduled obligation to deal with, a herald had arrived to share news with us, thus I was to hold court, much like I soon would with my actual post at Torino once I was sixteen years old - only two years away. Needless to say, I asked Isabelle to join me, hence, we sat next to each other, I occupied the larger of the two seats, the one mimicking the throne of a ruler, while Isabelle sat in a throne of a consort - befitting given our relationship, even if Isabelle technically did hold a higher rank than I did, as she was a Princess and heiress-presumptive to a Kingdom while I was heiress-apparent to a Duchy, meaning that she will be displaced by a male sibling regardless of age whilst my position is entirely secure regardless of what happens between my mother Giovanna Vittoria II and my father Gianmaria The Pious, the Duchess of Savoy and the former heir to The Duchy of Ferrara, a place now lost to Habsburg interference.

The two of us talked together in hushed tones but avoided any overtly questionable affection, we were in public after all, we were in a large chamber within the estate, various clergymen, local nobles, handmaidens, servants, and even a few mercenary captains - this was the one exception to the rule of keeping our mercenaries outside of the estate itself, after all, some of the particularly influential mercenaries were destined to have a major role in our budding professional army and would likely become landholders in the process - all were waiting to hear the herald's news as we prepared for his arrival - such events were very important as this presented those with a stake in The Duchy of Savoy as well as places abroad knowledge of what's going on throughout the known world, things that we would otherwise have no way to find out, after all, such is the state of the world in 1555. I turned my head to see the herald finally enter the room, he was dressed in rather standard fashion of the era, dark blue leggings beneath knee high leather boots beneath a dark blue coat with white trim and golden buttons, he had a neatly trimmed mustache and shoulder length curly black hair beneath his red beret, he was carrying a codex containing the news he would soon tell us - the herald would tell somewhat abridged versions of what's in his codex, telling what is relevant to his audience and skipping over the irrelevant details - the last thing a herald wanted to do was to bore his audience, especially given that Europe is no stranger to arbitrary and cruel rulers who may decide to take their boredom out on the messenger, or they may have a rather averse reaction to bad news and, once again, the messenger feels the brunt of that anger, however, our herald had nothing to worry about, I had no intention to shoot the messenger.

"Salutations blessed Teresa di Savoia, Marchioness of Torino and heiress to The Duchy of Savoy, and a warm welcome to your most esteemed guest, Princess Isabelle of Jerusalem, with your permission I shall present the news to the court." The herald introduced the two of us to the applause of the audience that had gathered to witness his words, naturally, due to his profession, the messenger was quite the orator. I was the second highest ranked person in the room, however, I was the highest ranked person from The Duchy and Isabelle was my guest, hence, I was the one holding court and I was the one that would have to go through the royal formalities, after all, it would be considered very improper if the herald simply waltzed into our estate and told the news, no, he was entering the court, my court, and thus, he needed to show respect and he needed to bend to my will, at least that was the royal formality, I personally considered the whole affair a little bit too grand and a little bit too structured, he has here to deliver mess, not to engage in this nonsense.

"Go on," nevertheless I wasn't going to rock the boat, I decided to humor the messenger and now we got into the actual news, I listened through the entire of it, at first it was mainly information about local harvest and construction - I was interested in what was going on in my future realm and I wanted to know how life was for my soon-to-be subjects, but none of the news on that matter was particularly noteworthy and I could definitely tell that Isabelle was getting bored, however, this was necessary information for many of the members of our audience - however, soon enough, we got to the more interesting things, international news, Isabelle's head popped up and even I leaned in, listening even more intently.

"The City of Frankfurt has put down a protestant uprising, imprisoning many and expelling the others," I sighed at this news, I admit that The Catholic faith is not perfect and I wish that The Church would provide acceptance for the kind of relationship that Isabelle and I now shared, however, these protestants were springing up all throughout The Holy Roman Empire - thankfully thus far this has been a rather self-contained matter and few Princes dared giving these heretics any support - those who did would face the wrath of Austria - but this was a very real concern for all of Catholic Europe, and I saw them as quite a threat, for two reasons mainly: one: coronation was largely still done with the support of clergy, the easiest way to be crowned Duchess of Savoy would be with the support of The Archbishop of Torino, the most powerful religious figure in our state, secondly: for all the grievances these protestants had, none of them campaigned for acceptance of homosexual relationships, in fact, many of them were arguing with even stricter compliance to even older copies of The Bible, given that my coronation would be more difficult and that they refused to support the one issue that would perhaps compel me to join them, I saw no reason to do business with these protestants. I would follow the lead of much of the rulers of western Europe and simply not acknowledge the movement, The Habsburgs are The Emperor and they shall deal with their Empire, hopefully this trend will come to pass sooner than later.

"The Duchy of Mantua has agreed to strengthen its ties to The Duchy of Milan, the two have entered a military alliance." The herald continued, Milano was in a similar situation to us, after all Milano was almost as large and almost as strong as us, so they were attempting to consolidate their position, gain strength, and gain allies, now, this particular alliance realistically wouldn't benefit Milan militarily, however, this was the first of a series of events that would give our neighbors in Lombardy hegemony over Mantua, increasing their power and increasing their number of subjects, however, this was also a potentially risky decision, as expanding into Mantua meant expanding into Romagna, where The Ferrarese branch of The House of Habsburg were already bickering with The Pope - however, the winner of that battle would no doubt set their sights on reclaiming The Romagnan city of Parma, which Milan already holds. The Duchy of Milan is made up of Milano itself, obviously, and also includes Novara, Cremona, Parma, and Brescia, and it seems that The Milanese House of Sforza will soon rule over Mantua as well, displacing The House of Gonzaga - displacing a dynasty can be a very messy affair, people tend not to agree to give up power, no one wants to be the one to have ruined their family's name, however, in royal politics, it was simply fact that it's often your House against their House, and in that case, it might as well be your House, The House di Savoia wasn't an exception to this rule, we vassalized and eventually revoked the titles held by The House of Paleologo-Monferrato, a relic of our crusading ancestors taking an interest in The Byzantine Empire, including the old Dukes of Monferrato, intermixing with The Greek rulers, leading The Monferrato being ruled by a cadet-branch of the last Byzantine dynasty, a dynasty which has long since fallen, however, while The House of Paleologo-Monferrato is not landed, they still live, they are still leading members of our nobility, and they are our courtiers.

"Genoa's reconquest of their former holdings in Crimea has failed," The Republic of Genoa is in no doubt decline, while I do admit our war against them when we seized Liguria didn't help, they have been declining since long before our involvement, Genoa lost Corsica to Aragon over a century ago, this marked the beginning of the end, since then, in addition to losing Liguria to us, they've lost their holdings in The Greek islands to The Ottomans or to Venezia - clearly the stronger of the two Italian maritime republics at this point - and their trade posts on The Crimean peninsula in The Black Sea were lost due to wars with the local Saracens and against The Crimean Goths, during the past few years Genoa has embarked on an effort to reclaim said lost territories, first trying to market it as a crusade, however that claim became invalid once The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took over the entire region of Crimea, however, Genoa, after a series of bribes and desperate promises, managed to raise and support a Gothic uprising, however, a small regional minority and a sharply declining merchant republic up against the largest nation in Catholic Europe tends not to end well, and now the news is confirmed, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has crushed Genoa, which will no doubt hasten their decline, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if either my mother or The Duke of Milan would attempt to seize the city itself in the near future.

"While the Electors in Bohemia and Brandenburg remain unimpressed, the Elector of Saxony has agreed to Austria's term and will support their heir for the position of Holy Roman Emperor." Savoy has left The Holy Roman Empire and The Empire is clearly beginning a slow decline, however, right now and for many generations after our deaths, they shall remain the dominant power in central Europe, therefore, we were very interested in any news coming out of The Empire, which is in a very interesting position right now, The Holy Roman Empire has lost their Italian territory and is experiencing the rise of protestantism, therefore, Austria needs to consolidate their position, therefore, they gave generous offers of money and privileges to the most troublesome states in The Empire, who also happen to be three of the electors, Saxony has evidently been bought but The King of Bohemia and his northern neighbor have proven to be a more resilient opponent, meaning that Austria's next move will be critical. The way I see it, Austria may decide to leverage their Hungarian allies against Bohemia and press their claim to the throne of The Kingdom-Electorate, as for Brandenburg, Brandenburg presents a larger problem, the territory is very far removed from Vienna and I question how effectively Austria could rule such a territory, additionally, going so far as annexing two electors will not sit well with the other five, jeopardizing Austria's position, so what I suspect Austria may do instead is to try and either convince The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to declare war on Brandenburg, leaving that territory dependent on their heroic Emperor to step in and protect them, however, that presents two major issues, one: The Poles may simply decide not to interfere in Imperial affairs, and secondly: there's no reason to believe that Austria would be able to stop The Poles, even with Hungarian support - and The Poles won't accept simply taking a fall to Austria, as that could jeopardize their position, therefore, the most realistic option for Austria in Brandenburg is to play the local Prussians and their northern Pomeranian minority off of each other, causing a civil war in which Austria would have to step in and save whichever side was first to swear fealty, no matter what happened, The Duchy of Savoy, as well as every other major European state, will be watching this elector situation in The Holy Roman Empire very, very closely, and I'm certain that many outside countries will enter the debate to push their own interests - many European countries would gladly do anything and everything they can to ensure Austria loses their water-tight grip on The Holy Roman Empire.

"The Kingdom of Naples has announced that it will now officially accept and support the use of Maltese as a regional dialect." Naples has come to rule over the entirety of the Mezzogiorno and the island of Sicily, Malta, a small island just south of Sicily, is also under their control, however, unlike the romance languages spoken in Italy proper - in the case of Naples, Neapolitan and other regional dialects of Italian as well as Sicilian - Malta's language is considerably more Moorish, however, King Ferrante I has decided to support them regardless, likely to win the support of the local population - Ferrante wants control of Malta, understandable given its proximity to Sicily, however, Ferrante doesn't want to devote too many resources to man and defend a place so far from Napoli, hence, the support of The Maltese community - however small it may be - may prove to be critical in maintaining control over the island. Similarly, despite our French origin and our adopted Piedmontese culture, we support the use of the Ligurian dialect in our coastal counties as well as the use of French and German dialects in our Swiss holdings, and our neighbors Milan support their Romagnan minority, it's much easier to simply support and accept minorities within our territory than it is to force them to adopt our customs - rather, we support them for now and slowly introduce more and more elements of our culture until the dialects spoken in Albenga or here in the Lake Geneva area are more similar to Piedmontese than whatever their respective local dialect was - cultural conversions would be entirely optional, that would be how we'd win the support of foreigners within our territory.

"Finally," the herald began telling the last piece of news "King Robert III of Cyprus has died, his son is expected to be coronated as King Jean-Baptiste II." The House of Lusignan reigned in Cyprus since The Crusades, however, the rise of The Ottomans and The Mamluks severely threatened the Cypriots, however, The New Crusade stopped those threats by shattering the Saracen armies and establishing The Kingdom of Jerusalem under The House of Anjou-Jerusalem - Isabelle's dynasty and itself a cadet branch of The House of Valois - who The Cypriots now paid tribute to, therefore, I'm sure that Isabelle would feel some of the ramifications of that death - in addition to likely being a guest of honor for the coronation of Jean-Baptiste II - when she returned to Jerusalem, but I didn't want to think about that right now, because right now, Isabelle and I were still together even if both of us knew that our time together was dwindling by the day, soon we'd have essentially the entire Mediterranean Sea between us, but I was certain that the two of us would enjoy our remaining time together to the fullest, starting as soon as the formalities with this herald were over, for now, all I could realistically get away with due to all these guests with their prying eyes was to hold Isabelle's hand, but I was grateful even for that small privilege, she is simply irresistible and I hated that right now circumstances were preventing us from fully embracing exactly why we wanted to do together, yes I'm aware that royal life is privilege, but like I've said, this is a prison of privilege with obligation after obligation to sit through, with formality after formality to go through, and with all these necessary unpleasantries - one day, one day very soon in fact, I would have to marry a man that I knew that I simply could not love just for political gain, I knew that every actual loving affair that I would have in my future would be just like this, constantly hidden and as secret as possible, if I was ever caught displaying my homosexuality, the consequences would be dire - not necessarily to me but to the girl who I was with, especially if that girl didn't have the same kind of royal privilege as I did - and perhaps even worse than that, I knew that Isabelle would have to suffer the same fate, I dreaded to think that one day she would have to lie back and feel the dirty, meaty, untrained hands of whatever royal stooge she was forced to marry all over her, defiling her, not even for the sake of unrequited love but to produce a heir to the throne, such a though disgusted me but I knew that this was the unfortunate reality of royal life in The 16th century, this was the fate that both myself and Isabelle had in store for ourselves.

"Thank you, kind sir," I thanked the herald for his delivery "You are dismissed." The herald closed his codex and walked out of the room, slowly but surely the mingling crowd of courtiers and clergymen cleared out, meanwhile, Isabelle and I sat in the two thrones until we were alone - it was considered improper for the royalty to leave at the same time as the common people, we would leave discretely after they did, but until this room was empty, we would sit in these two thrones and we would appear as proper as we possibly could.

* * *

That evening Isabelle and I sat around the bonfire celebrating the successful diplomatic visit - it was bittersweet for me since I knew that in a few days Isabelle would be gone and I'd be all alone again - however, the heat of the fire, the proximity next to each other, the presence of friends - Lucrezia and Marie were with us, as well as Caterina Paleologo-Monferrato, one of our courtiers and a member of the former ruling family of The Duchy of Monferrato and her husband Antonio Mocenigo, a relative of a former Venetian Doge, Condottiere Ferdinando, the leader of our mercenaries - while most of our mercenaries here were local Swiss bands with their own captains, we had those captains all answering to Ferdinando, an Italian mercenary who we knew better and we trusted more, however, even Ferdinando was not immune to our suspicions, we kept him only as close as we needed to and we paid him generously enough that he wouldn't find betraying us to be worthwhile - I doubted that Burgundy or Provence would pay him as much. Additional guests included: a local religious leader, Bishop Romain, Podesta Luigi and Podesta Giorgio, the leaders of local Italian speaking cities - Lake Geneva was in a region where French, German, and Italian dialects very much overlapped - and their various wives and guests, the gathering at the bonfire was very large as, in addition to the occasion of meeting a Princess from such a distant realm, many of these guests were here regardless due to visiting the ceremony with the herald, given these two facts, I was hardly going to reject all these visitors from our Savoyard estate, let them come and let them enjoy themselves, like I've said I want my future subjects to like me, to respect me, and in order to win that praise and earn that respect, I needed to treat my people properly and I needed to get to know them.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Isabelle asked, looking intently at the fire, I could see the red and orange flames reflected on her eyes "The fire, it reminds me of intimacy, family, a feeling of warmth and belonging, together with friends and family, so peacefully - isn't it just amazing that something so destructive, something so dangerous, something that hurts and kills, that something like that could be so warm and welcoming, something that seems entirely uncontrollable, yet here it is, a mere few paces away from us, so completely under our control, so tamed, so familiar, so beautiful."

"Reminds me of someone I know," I placed my hand on Isabelle's thigh - even through her dress I could feel the heat of her skin, I could feel the smoothness of the gentle curve of her thigh as it thinned between her hips down to her knees - I wanted to feel more, I wanted to be closer to Isabelle, I wanted to embrace her, to kiss her, and to feel her, but I knew that I couldn't, not with all these guests gathered all around, not with the secrecy of our relationship, not with the presence of so many prying eyes and gossiping hens, but that didn't make her any less irresistible. Isabelle's tan skin and silky black hair were bathed in orange light from the bonfire, the two of us got silent for a few moments and simply stared into each other's eyes, the conversations of our guests seemed to fade away, the crackling of the fire seemed miles away, the stress and obligations of the day seemed to disappear, right now, I felt like it was just me and her, I felt like I could just lean in for the kiss I was currently longing for, but right now I knew that it was far too dangerous, I knew that there was zero chance we could explain away such a blatant and public display of affection, and I also knew that even if we could get away with it, even if all these guests really did fade away, even if we really could get away with kissing right now, it would all be for nothing, because no matter what, Isabelle, my Jerusalemite Princess, would leave and sail away to Jerusalem in a mere few days time. I knew all of this, however, I also knew something else, right now, I knew that I couldn't deny my feelings any longer, right now, under the glowing light of the fire, I knew that I could no longer deny that I loved Isabelle.

I wasn't exactly sure how this happened, after all, Isabelle and I hardly knew each other by the time we kissed for the first time on that hill top, however, these last few days have changed everything, now, I could hardly even imagine how I'd feel when Isabelle left, I was dreading the arrival of that damned carriage who would inevitably take her away, taking my Jerusalemite Princess far, far away - but the point is that in these short few days, in our various adventures to the local towns or to the castle at Romainmotier, or to our deep conversation in Isabelle's bedroom the day after our kiss, our various discussions have brought us together, I knew that Isabelle was sheltered, I knew that she longed for freedom from all these obligations in The Holy Land, she wanted to explore natural beauty, she wanted to make true friends, she wanted a true companion, she didn't want to spend her whole life trapped in a castle, and neither did I, I also wanted to explore, I wanted to meet people, I wanted to see all the sights and hidden wonders within our Duchy, our curious fascination with the world around us brought us together, we could adventure together, we could learn together, we could be together, but alas, the reality is that this fascination was merely a fascination, soon enough we'd never be able to explore together again, we'd never be together again, soon enough, this whole relationship would be over, but I didn't care, I knew what my feelings were, I knew that I was a homosexual, and I knew that I loved Isabelle de Valois.

I knew that I loved her, but that was only just the first hurdle to overcome, now I'd need to muster the courage to do something about it, I'd need to find a way to tell her, but could I do it knowing that Isabelle may not quite feel the same way? Could I handle the fact that Isabelle may not want this to become too serious knowing that she'll inevitably leave? Could I handle the fact that she may simply not love me at all? For all I know, for Isabelle, this is merely a fling - I knew that there was self-discovery involved for both of us, I knew that both of us were homosexual, I knew that there was definitely something between us, however, what I didn't know is whether or not she considered this to be love, and I didn't know just how I was going to find out. All in all, this was definitely a major realization, perhaps as big as the realization of my sexuality - a relationship is one thing, however love is much more, love is a life-long commitment, when a man and a woman get married, it is until death do us part, I see no reason why love between a woman and another woman should be any different - other than, obviously, no support from The Catholic Church or any official standing - love was far more serious than anything either of us have encountered before, and honestly, given that we're a pair of dumb fourteen year old girls who just happen to hold titles of nobility, I wasn't quite sure if either of us would be ready for such a huge leap forward for our relationship, but now that I've admitted to myself that I love Isabelle, that I love my Jerusalemite Princess, there's no going back anymore, one way or another I would need to figure out how I could possibly convey these feelings to her.

* * *

The next day I decided that the best thing to do would be the same thing I did to cope with my feelings for Isabelle to begin with - I went to talk to my new friend, a very dear new friend - I decided to talk to Lucrezia. I waited in my bedroom for my handmaiden to arrive - I figured that this would be the most private place where we could possibly talk - I would explain my feelings and I would hope that she could help me make sense of these feelings and help point me in the right direction, just like she did to help start this relationship to begin with - I was well aware that without the advice from Lucrezia, this relationship may not exist, Isabelle and I would try our damnedest to bury these feelings and that effort would have likely ruined the entire diplomatic visit, however, that didn't matter, because Lucrezia helped me, Lucrezia showed me the way, and now, the relationship between myself and Isabelle, the relationship that Lucrezia helped form, the relationship has transitioned into love, and now, hopefully she would help me again.

I wasn't crying today, I was more emotionally stable than I was during that chaotic period where I wasn't sure whether or not I could accept these feelings, whether or not such a relationship would be even remotely possible, right now, I was just confused and uncertain, I was definitely worried as to how this would end, I knew that Isabelle would likely be caught off-guard by me admitting me love to her mere days after we've meant, but I was hoping that, deep down, Isabelle did feel the same way, I was hoping that she would love me too. I was confident that she would, our relationship has already had such an impact, I now associated the dining table with the first real conversation Isabelle and I had, I now associate the hill looking out over Lake Geneva with our first kiss, I now associated Isabelle's bedroom with the real start of our relationship, I associated the mirror in this very room with the beginning of our adventure to the abandoned castle of Romainmotier, I now associated the bonfire with my realization, and now, I associate Lake Geneva with love, this incredible body of Swiss water where myself, a Savoyard heiress, and Isabelle, a Jerusalemite Princess, would come together in a beautiful sapphic romance.

"Come in!" I yelled when I finally heard a knock on my door and Lucrezia came in, my dutiful handmaiden.

"Hello Teresa," she greeted, sitting down on the bed next to me, she was well aware that I was her superior and she was my servant, but she didn't care, because she also knew that we were alone together, and she knew that here, without the pressure of obligations and social norms of royal life, she knew that, in reality, we weren't superior and servant, respectively, rather, we were equals and we were friends.

"I need to talk to you about something." I begun, simply.

"Is it about Isabelle?" Lucrezia asked, she really was my friend, she knew me far better than I realized - I was definitely regretting that, before now, I never bothered to be her friend, I became a follower of the very strict royal structure that I so often claimed to not care for, but now, I was determined to set things right now, we were both girls, we were both attractive, we were both Piedmontese, we were both intelligent - in short, there was simply no reason why we shouldn't be friends, other than the fact that I had a title of nobility and she didn't - however, I was determined to change that, in appreciation for all her help and as a show of my friendship, once I assumed the title of Marchioness, once I had actual royal power, I would declare Lucrezia a member of Torino's nobility and I'd grant her a fief of her very own to preside over, land that she could use to leverage for a marriage or simply for her own benefit, either way, she would have it, I promised to myself that I'd give Lucrezia her title, I felt that it was the closest thing I could possibly do to a proper thank you - words simply wouldn't suffice.

"Yes," I sighed, preparing myself to reveal the critical information "Lucrezia...I love her."

"You love her?" she asked, seemingly caught off-guard, I was hardly offended, that was the natural reaction.

"Yes," I nodded "I figured it out at the bonfire last night, I love her, and I want to tell her."

"Well Teresa...are you sure about this?" she asked.

"I am," I replied, I definitely knew that I loved her, I just didn't know what to do about it.

"Well Teresa," she sighed, I could tell she was thinking "You've got to tell her."

"I don't know how," I replied.

"What do you mean you don't know how?" she asked "Something like this is never easy, there's not a way to do this, this is simply what you need to do, if you truly love her then you have to go and you have to tell her that, you have to let her know before this visit ends. All you're doing right now is watching the minutes you two have left together searching for an easy way out."

"You're right," I admitted.

"You need to tell her Teresa, do it." Lucrezia urged me, I had my mission now, the handmaiden had spoken, it was time to go and declare my love, it was time to do something about the feelings I realized at the bonfire, it was time to face the consequences of my love, whatever they may be. I knew that she might reject my love, I knew that this might end in tears, but I also knew that there was only one way to find out.

"I will," I gave Lucrezia a hug, grateful for her advice, she was right, I was just wasting time, I already knew what I needed to say, I had the three necessary words in my arsenal and yet, here I was searching for a halberd while I'm holding a pike, I had my arsenal, all I had to do was unleash it, all I had to do was tell Isabelle. It's time to go and simply those three necessary words and hope that Isabelle felt the same way, because right now, nothing was getting done. Lucrezia, my good friend, my best friend, she showed me the way, and now I knew what to do, I would confess my love for The Jerusalemite Princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, be warned, next chapter includes a semi-explicit sex scene.


	5. Farewell My Jerusalemite Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The middle scene of this chapter is the sex scene I warned you about last chapter, so do with that knowledge what you will.

Act I.

The Heiress of The Duchy of Savoy.

Chapter V.

Farewell My Jerusalemite Princess.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Isabelle asked as I lead her away from the estate, I had a surprise for her - I was going to tell Isabelle that I loved her, and I knew that there was only one place where I could do that. Lucrezia was right, I had to tell her how I felt now, not just because of how I felt, but because her diplomatic visit was rapidly drawing to a close - today was already the penultimate day of the visit, I knew that tomorrow her carriage would arrive yet again, but this time the carriage would take her away, taking her far away to a ship that would take her even farther away - I was well aware that tomorrow may be the last time in my life that I ever see The Jerusalemite Princess that I fell in love with - but that didn't matter, because right now, I still had some time, Isabelle and I had just left the estate after eating breakfast, we had all of today together, and we had as much of tomorrow as we could possibly manage before the carriage arrived. I would tell Isabelle that I loved her and, hopefully she'd reciprocate, after that, then we'll make the most of our remaining time together.

"It's a secret," I smirked, I was being a bit flirtatious for now, I had some confidence built up and I was definitely going to use it - I knew that there was definitely a chance that Isabelle would reject me, however, I felt that she would feel the same way, after all we've shared the same feelings the whole way thus far, I knew that the feelings escalated quickly and I knew that neither of us had experienced anything quite like this before, but I also knew that things have been utterly life-changing between us in such a short period of time and it was clear that the two of us were fairly mature beyond our years. I knew that I was young, I knew that such a relationship was far from the social norm in 1555, however, I also knew that, for better or worse, I was sure of my feelings and I knew that I would confess my feelings, we were already together so this should be fairly straightforward, however, I still intended for this to be special, I intended for this to be something that Isabelle would remember for the rest of her life, I wanted my confession of love to be powerful enough to transcend the vast distance that shall soon be between us, I wanted to make sure that Princess Isabelle of Jerusalem would wake up each and every morning decades from now and remember me, Teresa di Savoia, and remember the relationship that we shared here on the shores of Lake Geneva in the summer of 1555, this would forever more be known as the summer of Isabelle and I, this summer would forever more be our secret, and I knew that even if she rejected me now, I knew that one day, however far away in the future it may be, I knew that Isabelle would one day admit to herself that she loved me, but, right now, I still had hope that today would be the day that Isabelle admitted our love, so that is why I'm taking her up to the hill where we shared our first kiss.

"Well," Isabelle came closer to me, blowing into my ear as she whispered "What do I need to do to find out?"

"I could think of a few things," I came closer yet, turning to face her and grabbing her hips.

"So could I," she replied, putting her arms around my neck, this was all the invitation that I need, I closed the distance between us with a kiss, the kiss was lustful and passionate, I knew at this point that she loved me too, I knew that she was longing for the next step, and I knew that I was as well, once I took her to the top of that hill I would reveal my love for her. Our kiss intensified as we stood together on the path not too far from the estate - but the proximity didn't concern us, we knew that we were alone - and continued until finally she opened her mouth, giving me access, my tongue enter her mouth and she returned the favor - the kiss turned sloppy and wet, but neither of us minded that at all, in fact, we liked it even more.

"Come on," I said when we finally broke our kiss to catch our pesky breath, I grabbed her hand and we continued up the path - as we got closer I could tell that Isabelle was beginning to figure out what I had planned, but whenever she asked, I remained playful and coy - I had to wonder if there were other relationships like ours out there, surely there had to be other royal women who happened to be homosexual, and surely at least a few of them acted on the impulses - I knew that many, many homosexuals opted to simply hide or outright repress their feelings because of the nature of the time - virtually nobody tolerated these kinds of relationships, homosexual men were especially hated - I was well aware that my gender meant that my homosexuality wasn't quite as dangerous as the male equivalent, however, that certainly did not mean that our relationship would be even remotely accepted, but honestly, that was all irrelevant to me, Isabelle and I were clearly in love and I would rather experience the relationship in secrecy than reject this blissful love. Isabelle and I would be together regardless of the consequences, and, with that determination, Isabelle and I reached the top of the hill overlooking Lake Geneva, we stood in the spot where we stood those few days ago together and kissed for the first time, this was where it all started.

"This is our spot, isn't it?" Isabelle spoke softly and romantically, a smile on her face and an intent to kiss me was very, very clear in her eyes, however, I had something a little bit more important to deal with. I laid out a blanket and the two of us sat down on it, Lake Geneva stood majestically below us, mighty yet peaceful, a place just as beautiful as the girl who I fell in love with here on its shores. I pulled Isabelle closer to me on our blanket while I prepared to tell her what I needed to say. I took a deep breath and began.

"Isabelle York de Valois, my Jerusalemite Princess," I finally revealed my nickname for her, it was possessive, it was factual, and it meant Princess in more ways than simply her royal title "In these short few days that I've known you, it's been absolutely life-changing, to the point where I can't even imagine life without you anymore, the experiences we've shared together here on the shores of Lake Geneva I will treasure for my entire life, I don't care that this diplomatic visit is almost over, I don't care about the distance between us, I don't care that The Clergy won't ever give us any slack, I don't care that we'll have to hide our relationship, I don't care about any of that - nothing else matters Isabelle, because right now, we're together, the world could be turned upside down and I'd still be happy so long as I was with you, my Jerusalemite Princess. I know that these things have come so quickly, I know that we're still so young, I know that virtually no one else would ever understand, I know this is very taboo, and I know that you know all of this too, my Jerusalemite Princess. Yesterday, when we sat next to each other in the bonfire, when I looked into your eyes as they reflected each and every spark, I knew that this is more than just some dumb fling, no, this is more than a fling, this is more than just a relationship, this is more than anything either of us could've predicted all of those days ago when we kissed on the top of this hill - it's been a wild ride my Jerusalemite Princes, and I'm well aware that things won't get any easier for us, but that doesn't matter, not at all, because Isabelle, you're my Jerusalemite Princess, you're now the reason why I'm happy to get out of bed in the morning, you're the reason why I have a smile on my face today. I'm so very glad that we're together Isabelle, because I love you."

"Oh my God!" Isabelle's face lighted up in a mixture of surprise and delight - yes! yes! yes! yes! yes! yes! "Teresa...I feel the same way...I love you too."

"Yes!" I cheered and embraced Isabelle - I was delighted that she felt the same way, I was delighted that this worked - I poured my heart and soul into that speech I gave Isabelle, I felt that it was the only way to convey these feelings - the way I felt about her and the reasons that I felt that way moved way beyond merely the three words, I needed to tell her why, I needed to show her that I considered each and every consequence and decided that our love outweighed each and every one of those consequences - the risks meant nothing to me now, I just wanted to be happy and I wanted to be happy along with Isabelle, and now, I was very, very glad to find out that she felt the same way. Trying to convey my love to Isabelle was difficult, even after I talked to Lucrezia and realized that I simply needed to tell Isabelle - Lucrezia told me those three words would be all I needed, and in a way, she was right, however, even those three mighty words meant nothing if I couldn't put weight behind those words - Isabelle deserves better than hollow words and vague promises, she deserves honesty and passion, she deserves all the love that I could possibly give her and then some, she was a great person, a great person who has unfortunately been so held back by the limitations and obligations of royal life - in Jerusalem, she's had nobody that she could consider a proper, true friend, she's had nobody to share her passions with, she's had no one to sit and listen while she spoke - Isabelle was an incredibly smart person. always curious and always willing to learn, she's so much like me - she wants to explore and meet people, just like I do, she wants somebody to be her true friend, and she wants somebody who will love her and cherish her the way she deserves, and, for our brief remaining time together her, I would show her just how much she should be loved and cherished.

"You're speech was beautiful by the way," Isabelle revealed when we broke the hug.

"Nowhere near as beautiful as you," I replied, closing the distance between us with a kiss yet again - we were in love, we were together, and, once again, we were sharing a kiss on the top of the hill overlooking Lake Geneva, the beautiful lake that we owe our whole relationship to, the place where this all began, and, unfortunately, the place where this will all end far too soon. I loved Isabelle and she loved me, unfortunately her royal post was in Geneva while mine is here in The Duchy of Savoy, the entire Mediterranean Sea separated us - I suppose that a far-fetched and unlikely serious of events could lead to Isabelle becoming Duchess of Provence, and, if during this process she somehow lost her claim on Jerusalem, whether it was due to war or due to complicated internal politics within The House de Valois, particularly within The Anjou cadet branch, anyway, if somehow Isabelle ended up as Duchess of Provence but not Queen of Jerusalem, she would reign here in Europe - The Duchy of Savoy shares a border with The Duchy of Provence - and our relationship could continue, however, the chances of us getting into such a situation were incredibly unlikely - Isabelle's uncle, The Duke of Provence, would need to die along with each one of his children, the Isabelle's father would need to die without producing a male heir, now, hopefully, Rene III, King of France and patriarch of the entire House de Valois wouldn't claim The Provencal throne for himself - leaving The Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany as the only independent rulers in France - if all those events occurred and somehow Isabelle lost Jerusalem - say if The Mamluks or The Ottomans were able to win a counterattack on the crusader Kingdom, or if a Christian decided to betray The Kingdom of Jerusalem, or simply if Isabelle named a successor and abdicated The Jerusalemite Throne but not The Provencal throne - she could reign very close and we could continue our love, but alas, I knew this simply wouldn't happen - repeat history a thousand times and such a scenario would only occur in a handful of bizarre realities - I knew that our relationship was doomed.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Isabelle as I locked the door to my bedroom, we were young, however, we were both one-hundred percent sure that we loved each other and we both knew that this visit was rapidly coming to an end, therefore, we decided that perhaps tonight we should pursue the ultimate expression of love, because tomorrow when that carriage arrives and takes my Jerusalemite Princess away, we both knew that it could be the last day we ever see each other, we knew that this was coming to an end. Isabelle sat down on my bed and I crossed over to her, sitting down next to her, she was deep in thought, considering the implications of what we may well do - both of us knew that we could only be innocent once - however, I personally figured that if anyone was going to take my innocence, it should be the first ever person that I loved, it should be Isabelle, it should be my Jerusalemite Princess, however, I wasn't going to rush her, I couldn't do that, if Isabelle wasn't ready, then she wasn't ready - I was in love with her, I couldn't in good conscience do anything potentially traumatic to her - I was her lover, I was not her abuser.

The air was thick with anticipation, both of us were filled with a combination of lust and uncertainty - for me, the lust was dominant, however, for Isabelle, I could tell that the lust and the uncertainty were very close, perhaps too close to call - I wanted to tip the scales, but, as I said, I don't intend to be forceful, I know that for the majority of the relationship I was the dominant presence while Isabelle was more submissive, I still felt that the two of us were equals - certainly the ideal we were striving for was a fair and equal relationship.

"Teresa..." Isabelle began, no matter what she said I would be happy, regardless of what her decision was I would comply "I...I want this."

"I want it too Isabelle." I gave her a warm smile, the two of us took off our shoes and our stocking and turned to face each other on the bed just wearing our dresses - we were both shaking and breathing heavily, we knew that a very, very serious event was ahead of us - my mind was racing trying to think of where to begin when Isabelle answered my question for me, closing the distance between us with a kiss, I gladly obliged, returning the kiss and gripping her hips, pulling her whole body even closer to me, I pushed my tongue into her lips and she opened her mouth, our eyes were closed and we simply allowed our tongues to explore each other's mouths, it was a very long and very passionate kiss, our tongues encircled each others, our tongues twisted around each other, we explored each and every corner of each other's mouths, unfortunately, we needed air, so we reluctantly disconnected from each others and gasped for air - the two of us were still kneeling on the bed with our body's pressed into each other, only our dresses separated us from each other - I rested my forehead on hers while catching my breathe, our eyes were locked as we composed ourselves, I waited obediently until Isabelle was ready, waiting until she nodded her head, giving me permission to continue.

I slowly brought my hands up her body, feeling the hotness of her skin through the thin fabric of her dress, Isabelle inhaled sharply as my thumbs came over her chest, and she exhaled slowly as my hands came up to her shoulders, I gripped the straps of her sleeveless dress and once again looked Isabelle in the eyes, I saw seriousness, I saw that her mind was made up, I saw that she was ready - I gave her a quick kiss, we had passed the point of no return.

I pulled the straps down her shoulders and down her arms, watching eagerly as more and more of Isabelle's body revealed itself to me, but I continued to slowly but surely pull her dress off, Isabelle briefly raised herself off of the bed to allow me to pull the dress off of her shoulders, soon enough it was off of her entirely, all of Isabelle laid exposed before me. I lowered her dress gently to the ground, careful not to wrinkle it. Isabelle rose up, entirely bare, and made sure that I was in the same position as her, she helped me strip down, pulling the entire dress down my body and off of me, lowering it down to the floor as well - I gave a quick glance to the door, it was still locked and we were still safe and alone, however, I closed the curtains surrounding my bed nonetheless - what happened on this bed would be a secret known only to us.

* * *

I woke up before Isabelle did, laying in bed with my arms around her - needless to say, I felt no need to get out of bed, I simply laid there next to my lover - the secret of last night filling my thoughts and putting a smile on my face - I took Isabelle's innocence and she took mine, that's the way it should be, my first love gets the ultimate prize, the only prize that I could never give to anybody else - anyone else would have to settle for a lesser prize. Last night was magical, Isabelle and I spent hours physically expressing our love for each other until finally both of us were utterly exhausted and we reluctantly had to go to sleep, however, that didn't necessarily mean we weren't expressing love anymore, because all night Isabelle's naked back was pressed into the front of my body and my arms were around her midriff pulling her closer yet - I felt her inhale and exhale based on how her stomach expanded and contracted below my arms, we had spent the entire night in an intimate embrace. As I peacefully laid there with my Jerusalemite Princess, reality dawned upon me - I knew that today was our last day together, I knew that in a scant few hours her carriage would arrive and take her away from me, I knew that today our relationship would come to an end.

I gently uncurled my arms and allowed them to explore Isabelle's body once again, feeling down her hips and onto her thighs, gently I traced little patterns along Isabelle's thigh with my left hand and slowly brought my right hand back up her body - Isabelle was still asleep but I heard a soft moan escape from her lips, I had no idea what time it was, but based on the brightness just outside of the curtains surrounding my bed, I could tell that the sun had already risen but I didn't care, The Duchy of Savoy could be simultaneously invaded on all sides so long as I was still laying here with Isabelle, the world's greatest Empires could crumble and it wouldn't matter to me at all so long as I was with my lover, nothing else really mattered when I was with my Jerusalemite Princess.

I felt Isabelle's bosom in my right hand, toying with her nipple. Six years ago when I was a child my father Gianmaria The Pious reluctantly accepted my incessant pleas to be allowed to join him on a hike - after all, I was an adventurous person even then - he sighed and eventually allowed me to follow, we were here in our estate on the shores of Lake Geneva in the spring time and most of the snow had melted, however, the mighty Alps still had snow on their peaks and my father and I climbed one of these mountains - he was admittedly impressed by my competence during the hike - what he didn't know is that even back then at the age of eight I had managed to escape the estate and explore the local hills, however, I hadn't quite managed a mountain just yet, but with my father's help and my own courage I had managed to reach the top of one of The Swiss Alps. I could look down and see Lake Geneva below, but instead I grasped the peak, holding the very top of the mountain in my right hand while look at another mountain to the left, just as large with a peak just as high, immediately, with childish vigor I asked my father if I could climb the other mountain, however, he refused, telling me that we had enough adventures for one day. My father wasn't here now however, Gianmaria was in Chambery, constantly at my mother's mercy, but I was alone, I was now free to explore on the shores of Lake Geneva, and Isabelle would be my subject, I slowly but surely my left hand made its way up to its destination, my hand travelled through the valley between Isabelle's legs and soon made landfall, feeling the damp morning grass before heading up to the smooth plane of her navel, my left hand continued its journey, traversing the ridgeline of her ribs, briefly settling at the foot of its destination, finally, both of my hands reached Isabelle's chest so that I could thoroughly explore her twin mountains.

As I explored I felt Isabelle stir. she was certainly waking up blissfully, fully enjoying my embrace, she arched her back to stretch, bringing back pleasant memories of last night, Isabelle turned her neck so as to face me, all without leaving our conjoined position: and from here, Isabelle and I shared our first kiss of the day. This was bliss, this was lust, and this was love.

"Good morning," I smiled at her after we broke our kiss.

"Hello," she grinned.

"I love you." I told her.

"I love you too," she responded and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I was about to give her another, longer kiss when I heard a knock on the door - Isabelle and I recoiled from each other as I heard a handmaiden calling - if it was Lucrezia, I think I'd stand a chance, but it was Marie's voice - Isabelle and I leaped out of bed and threw our dresses on as quickly as we could, straightening out the wrinkles as best as we could and trying to fix my hair, all the while I heard knocking and calling from beyond the door. Isabelle and I rushed over to the bed and opened the curtains whilst fixing the sheets and the pillows - I didn't know what we could do, there was still a bit of a lingering smell of last night's events. I pulled Isabelle close to me and spoke to her in a rushed whisper.

"What do we do?" I asked her "How do I explain you being in here this early?"

"I don't know Teresa..." she shook her head "And what about the smell?"

I didn't know, I have no idea what to do here - all the obstacles we overcame, all the secrets we managed to keep hidden, and all the clergy and royal courtiers we've managed to hide our affection from, all of that meant nothing, all because last night we went a little too far and put ourselves into a very risky situation, and now, it's all blowing up in our face - on the last day of the diplomatic visit, we blew it - our relationship would be discovered, our love would be forcefully terminated, and everything that we built together would unravel. The relationship was over, we would be discovered, there was no excuse I could give for all this, I wasn't sure if I would be able to swear Marie to secrecy - why couldn't it be Lucrezia? The entire relationship was flashing through my eyes - we met with our royal introductions between her carriage and the entrance to the estate, I guided her to her room, then the next morning we began bonding over our breakfast, then began our first adventure together - I took her for a tour of the area, visiting the major villages, churches, and landmarks all throughout The Lake Geneva area, culminating in our kiss on the hill, a kiss that absolutely turned our worlds upside down, but the very next day I got my guidance from Lucrezia and I went to Isabelle's room, where we eventually shared a kiss on the balcony - wait...the balcony, that's it!

"I know what to do." I opened the balcony doors and looked over towards Isabelle's room - the gap between our balconies wasn't that big, it would be risky, but what choice did we have? This is what we need to do, and fortunately for us, all the while the wide open balcony doors were airing out the room, diluting out the scent of last night's events - we would smell too, but we had no time for baths and we could explain away our own smells a little bit more easily than such a distinctive odor filling an entire bedroom.

"You need to get onto your balcony." I told her, easier said than done, I know.

"Teresa..." Isabelle said pensively.

"Isabelle," I grabbed her shoulders "I love you, I'd never let anything happen to you, but we need to get you onto that other balcony."

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"I'll help you up onto the rail and hold you steady while you step over the gap." I replied, with a particularly long yet entirely possible stride, she could definitely do it - because Isabelle and I are approximately the same height and I've managed the same task unassisted during one of my independent escapes from the estate to go on one of my adventures.

"Okay," Isabelle took a deep breathe and we shared a kiss for good luck. I helped her climb up onto the railing and held het feet to steady her. I let go of her right leg and she crossed onto the other railing, she lowered herself down onto the railing and gripped it with her hands, I let her turn over the leg in my grasp, she was now sitting on the railing of her balcony, she pulled her leg out of my grasp and was now all on her own, she pushed herself up and stepped over the railing, she quickly regained her composure and stepped away from the edge, she gave a shaky breathe and nodded over to me - Isabelle was safely on her own balcony, that was one obstacle dealt with, now to finally open my door to the knocking Marie.

"What is it Marie?" I asked when I opened the door.

"My lady, where have you been?" she asked, exasperated "I've been knocking for a few minutes now, I was starting to worry..."

"I was on the balcony watching the sunrise," I gestured to the still open balcony doors - a very plausible excuse "I must not have heard the knocking."

"Oh, I hadn't thought that you may've been on the balcony," she admitted "Anyway, my lady, there is a most pressing matter that requires your attention!"

"What is it?" I asked, somewhat alarmed - what could have happened?

"I can't find Princess Isabelle, there's nobody in her room!" she exclaimed - I had an idea as to how to deal with this, I would definitely be deceiving Marie, but I had no choice at this point.

"Nonsense Marie, I'm sure she's in her room." I replied, smoothly as I could.

"My lady, I assure you she was not!" Marie countered.

"Shall we check then?" I knew Isabelle was now in her room, I would play this off as Marie making some sort of mistake and getting worked up over nothing, I hated to do this, but I needed to. I left my room and Marie followed closely behind, we reached Isabelle's room, just next door, I gave a quick few knocks - I had to figure that the reason Marie was knocking on my door rather than Lucrezia is that Marie went to wake up Isabelle and discovered that she was absent, hence she went to retrieve me, the constant knocking - which needless to say was improper given that I was a heiress and Marie was merely a handmaiden - was out of a panic due to Isabelle's absence - very understandable, I suppose that Isabelle and I should have been more careful, more thoughtful, yet here we are - at least it seems that we've managed to avoid an outright discovery - I wasn't sure if Marie had noticed anything strange about my room or managed to overhear any of the commotions or the whispering, however, thus far it seems that the handmaiden is clueless of the situation and my made up excuse seems to have stood, so far so good, now Isabelle and I would need to convince Marie that she was wrong when she saw that my Jerusalemite Princess wasn't in her own room at night, we'd need to convince one of my very own handmaidens that a lie was reality - I definitely didn't like this, but unfortunately, with the circumstances being what they are, Isabelle and I have no choice but to lie to the people who should be so close to us.

"Come in!" Isabelle replied, I looked over at Marie, whose expression was in complete shock, I opened the door and walked in to see Isabelle brushing her hair, acting as if she had been there the whole time - I smiled internally, she was a very smart girl.

"Hello Isabelle," I greeted, acting as if this was my first hello to her today, rather than the nude kiss we shared in bed "Marie says she couldn't find you this morning?"

"Really?" Isabelle replied, sporting a fabricated quizzical expression "I'm not sure why, I've been here all morning."

"Oh..." Marie replied, before turning to me "I'm sorry my lady, there must have been some sort of mistake, I swear I wasn't able to find Princess Isabelle anywhere!"

"Well it seems she was here all along, safe and sound." I assured Marie, ushering her out of the room - while we were leaving I threw Isabelle a quick glance, smiling at our victory - I would feel the guilt of lying to one of my handmaidens later, for now I was glad to have simply escaped that particularly risky situation - I was especially glad that everything went well on the balcony, I couldn't even imagine how I would've felt if something happened to my Jerusalemite Princess, however, do to a combination of luck, her own courage and physical ability, as well as my encouraging and stabilizing presence, we managed to survive the balcony encounter unscathed, and now, we managed to keep our relationship unscathed through the biggest potential risk we've experienced yet, even if that means I've unfortunately had to leave one of my handmaidens very confused and now likely full of self doubt - I suppose that was a necessary consequence as the relationship is preserved and the damage to Marie is only temporary - our relationship survived, our love survived, however, none of that meant that the carriage would be any farther away, today that carriage would come and take my lover away from me.

* * *

Breakfast had been a quiet affair, Isabelle and I simply ate our food, being extra careful not to be too public with any displays of affection after this morning's events, however, that is not to say we were silent, we did exchange a little bit of small talk and some light humor, however, nothing even close to what we could say without the pressures of society keeping us apart. It was clear to me now that this really was the end for us, we had managed to preserve our relationship despite all these hurdles, however, Isabelle would still have to leave, and most likely, we'd never see each other again, most likely, this would be our last day together, most likely, after today, the relationship between Teresa di Savoia and Isabelle York de Valois would be no more.

Predictably, soon enough the carriage had arrived to take my Jerusalemite Princess away, a pair of servants came off of her carriage and recovered the chest containing her belongings, Marie handed over the remaining laundry, all the while Isabelle and I watched all that we had built together unravelling around us - each and every time we told the other we loved them meant nothing more, for an entire sea would separate us, and the distance by land was no less immense - the entire Holy Roman Empire, The Kingdom of Hungary, the various feuding Balkan Kingdoms such as Bosnia and Wallachia, and the entire expanse of The Ottoman Empire separated The Duchy of Savoy and The Kingdom of Jerusalem - this was the end.

Soon enough the driver of the carriage summoned Isabelle, it was time for her to go. I gave her a long hug before she left, a deep embrace to express our love one last time as much as we could given the prying eyes, but even that soon came to an end, Isabelle had left, taking my heart with her and leaving me with my tears through no fault of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my defense, I was a virgin at the time of writing that scene. Anyway, this was act one, next chapter picks up after a time skip and the action moves to Torino.


	6. The Pretender to Duchies and Empires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here, we're going to skip forward to January 1558 and introduce the other love interest of the story, Ippolita di Paleologo-Monferrato

Act II.

The Lady of Piemonte.

Chapter VI.

The Pretender to Duchies and Empires.

* * *

I hadn't seen Isabelle since she left on her carriage but we still managed to keep somewhat in touch, we wrote to each other twice a year - the most we could handle given the vast distance between us - and our letters were painfully vague - we couldn't risk the consequences if The Clergy would somehow learn what happened between us nearly three years ago at our estate on Lake Geneva- however, we managed, both of us were aware that the actual relationship was over, distance and time would eventually cause the lingering love to fade away, however, Isabelle, my Jerusalemite Princess would always keep a special place in my heart and she would always be remembered as my first - she was the one who took my innocence and I took hers, she was the first, and so far, the only person that I have loved so far, and not only that, but I genuinely enjoyed the time that Isabelle and I spent together, she's a great person, a brilliant mind, and she's just plain fun to be around - however, none of that mattered anymore because our royal circumstances have separated us and, quite frankly, I seriously can't see a way to consistently overcome these particular circumstances. As much as I hated to admit it: Isabelle and I will eventually have to face the truth, because, lets face it, our love was doomed.

In the mean time I had assumed my post as Marchioness of Torino a few months ago when I turned sixteen, coming to rule independently at the recently expanded Palazzo di Torino - The Duchy of Savoy was doing very well right now as Genoa's reputation continues to decline and Spain's attention remains focused on maintaining order in their new Dutch provinces - when Burgundy's ruler Guy II died without a heir, his realms were divided between Spain and France, however, Burgundy's subjects in The Netherlands were not pleased with these developments - answering to a ruler in what is now France is one thing, answering to a ruler in Madrid who also has to oversee vast holdings in The New World, considerable amounts of North African coastline, and The Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia, all this meant that The Spanish Borgias certainly had their hands full. In any case, do to these mounting problems for our biggest competitors, Savoy has come to dominate trade in The Ligurian Sea and beyond - we created a roughly triangular trade zone from Nice to Sicily to The Spanish Mediterranean coast, a zone of trade once dominated by Genoa, however, that state is far from prestigious now, the international consensus being that the city of Genoa itself will fall under foreign control within ten years, whether it be by The Duchy of Savoy, The Duchy of Milan, or by the new rising power in central Italy, The Republic of Florence, a Republic intent on controlling its neighbors in Lucca and Siena. Speaking of Milan, Sforza relatives are quickly becoming the dominant rulers in Romagna, controlling Forli and Imola already - it's clear that The Sforza wish to annex the northern expanse of The Papal States from within, all the while The Italian branch of The Habsburgs try to consolidate their position in Ferrara so that they can join in the fray for Romagna.

That situation in Romagna is rapidly escalating, it seemed that the next major conflict in Europe would revolve around the rebellious electors in The Holy Roman Empire or the rise of the protestant heretics, however, it now seems like a three way war over Romagna will ravage Europe instead - on one side is The Papal States and their Spanish allies, on another is Ferrara, Austria, and Hungary, and the final faction is a ragtag alliance of Milan, France, Naples, and us - we were acting in support of our Milanese allies, Milano was acting in their own self-interest to take Romagna for themselves, France was acting to check the power of two of the other great powers - Spain and Austria - and Naples was acting to weaken The Papal States so that they wouldn't be able to expand farther south - Ferrante II of Naples was well aware that there was little distance separating Roma and Napoli. We are perhaps the least stable alliance - Spain and The Papal States have historical ties and The Borgias are a rare royal family in that they've been both secular rulers as Kings and religious rulers as Popes, this has only strengthened relations between the two countries, meanwhile, The Habsburg dynasty unites Austria, Hungary, and Ferrara, while each of the countries in our alliance is acting in their own self-interest - even us, as a strong Duchy of Milan as our ally will help keep foreign powers out of Italia - however, we were perhaps the strongest - France is a mighty, mighty Kingdom, Naples is the largest and strongest power on The Italian Peninsula itself, while Milano and Savoy are among the largest Duchies in all of Europe - in fact, if The Sforza can consolidate Romagna, they'll be strong enough to have a legitimate claim on becoming a Kingdom, assuming that The Milanese will find clergy willing to crown them, as for us, with more land - assuming that we could hold it effectively - and more power - assuming that we could wield it effectively - we could also improve our titles. It may seem arbitrary, but there really is more weight behind a country that holds the title of Kingdom when compared to a country, however similar it may be, that holds the title of Duchy.

As usual, politics were boiling over throughout Europe, however, I was more concerned with my own situation - and beyond that, the situation in Torino, followed by The Duchy of Savoy, only then did I truly worry over external politics. It was January in Torino, which based on local records wasn't always this cold, in fact, there was a point where snow was so rare that the local record-keepers felt the need to list specific incidents, however, this particular warm period ended at some point, because eventually the record-keepers stopped bothering to list it, meanwhile, the crop planting seasons ended earlier and earlier - reports from around Europe seemed to indicate more of the same - for whatever reason, Europe has grown colder over the last century or so, so much so that here in Torino, snow has been pretty much a weekly occurrence, with snow storms frequently coming down upon the city from The Alps to the north - older buildings struggled under the weight of the snow while more modern buildings were built to either hold the weight or to let the snow slide off, further confirming that this shift to colder weather is something relatively new - something that occurred within the last few generations - however, we can hardly change the weather, this is something we must simply deal with. Speaking of dealing with things, it's about time I left my quarters for the day, so I left the room in my dark red dress and came into the corridor outside, running into Lady Lucrezia di Torino, my former handmaiden who I, true to my promise, turned into a courtier, giving her enough land for a suitable dowry if she wished or alternatively, enough land to supply her with a steady source of income.

"Hello Lady Lucrezia," I grabbed her hand and kissed it - it wasn't something romantic, even though Lucrezia was certainly attractive - however she has been my handmaiden for so long that it simply wouldn't feel right to be anything more than friends - this was merely how I treated all the ladies in my court - which I do admit is certainly self-indulgent to a degree. The two of us walked and talked together down the long corridor - in true European fashion, the city of Torino had to have a very large palace, especially given that the size and the wealth of the city is making my family seriously considering leaving The Chateau de Chambery and coming here to The Palazzo di Torino - Torino was in a safer location, nestled between The Milanese border and The Alps while Chambery is dangerous close to The French border, however, given that we were currently allied with France and thus had no reason to worry about them, while the other dangerous great power, Burgundy has been entirely eliminated - meanwhile The Spaniards that have taken the place of The Burgundians are hardly ready to expand, and even if they do, I think Spain will prioritize taking land from Provence in order to link their new holdings in eastern France with their territory in Luxembourg - the core of Provence borders us along the coastline however The House de Valois-Anjou has holdings in Lorraine and in Anjou itself as well. In any case, The Palazzo di Torino was a very large, very lavish, and very modern palace, perhaps even a palace worthy of a King or Queen rather than a Duke or Duchess.

My mother is a Duchess however, a very powerful Duchess, but a Duchess nonetheless, Giovanna Vittoria II di Savoia was intent on eventually expanding her realm, but she would be smart about it, there was no need to get involved in stupid wars, there is no reason to pursue alliances that do not benefit us, and there is no need to spend vast amounts of money on trying to secure a slice of The New World only to be pushed away from anything valuable by The English, The Spanish, The French, and The Portuguese and left to deal with whatever pathetic scraps we were left with - colonialism was simply too expensive and too distant a job for a mere Duchy like us, and, to be honest, I very much doubted we'd have any success at holding colonies, no, colonialism is a preoccupation for The Great Powers of Europe, it wasn't anything that we should deal with. Giovanna Vittoria II would be smart about how she gained power, she would do as much as possible diplomatically, for example, I knew that sooner or later, my mother would try and have me married off for power, however, that hasn't happened yet, as my mother's initial attempts to betroth me to a Neapolitan Prince ended because Ferrante II would only accept a marriage where the children will be part of his dynasty exclusively, but my mother instead wanted me to produce a di Savoia heir when the time comes, however, thus far, no ruler has been willing to accept such an unorthodox arrangement, children in western Europe have always belonged to the father's dynasty, especially in royal circumstances. In any case, I was very grateful that thus far I've been able to escape the fate of being betrothed and then married to a man - given that Isabelle's dynasty is more conservative, they're waiting to see if they can't produce a male heir before trying to arrange a marriage for Isabelle - they had to be careful of who may inherit The Jerusalemite Throne, there is precious few people who can be truly trusted with ruling The Holy Land, and quite frankly, Isabelle's husband would most likely attempt to usurp her as ruler of that Kingdom, so this meant that, for the time being, both me and my secret love remained unwed, and I was certainly happy with that.

"Hello my Marchioness," Lucrezia responded after I greeted her "Did you hear the news?"

"What news?" I asked, I hadn't heard any particular piece of interesting gossip quite yet, however, I have noticed that now that I've been Marchioness of Torino, people have been noticeably more careful with what they tell me, because my mother gave me broad power over the city - she felt that the best way to prepare for ruling The Duchy was experience, and here I would gather experience as if I was alone, and should I make any particularly disastrous errors, my mother would be there to help me, because when I became Duchess of Savoy, I'd no longer have any direct help from her, so it was best for me to get any and all mistakes over with now before they can have any lasting consequences.

"Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato has turned sixteen and has been sent here to become a Lady," Lucrezia reported, telling me about one of the surviving members of The House of Paleologo-Monferrato, pretenders to The Duchy of Monferrato and, through dynastic links, pretenders to the long defunct Byzantine Empire, an Empire that truly died hundreds of years ago but pathetically held onto life until just a century ago. The remnants of House of Paleologo-Monferrato have been reduced to mere subjects and courtiers, however the family were still quite powerful, the family was still the largest secular land holders in Monferrato - they owned many buildings, castles, and vineyards in the area - and held many minor positions throughout the entire Duchy of Savoy, such as Barons, advisors, and several of their men have become significant condottieri, all this meant that, even though the dynasty had no more major titles, they had significant influence here in Savoy and beyond, therefore, to see Ippolita, the young daughter of Guglielmo Paleologo-Monferrato, the current pretender to The Duchy, coming here to this palace, coming here to my court, was very much a big deal.

"Is that so?" I asked as we continued to walk through the palace. I had to admit there was always a sort of primal curiosity when a female courtier arrived, always wondering how she would look, always wondering what her personality would be like, and always wondering what she would think of me - Isabelle and I still wrote to each other but we were both entirely aware that the actual romance was over, therefore, slowly but surely I was starting to look for someone who could try and fill that void, however, not only were such feelings rare enough to begin with, but it was even rarer to find someone who was both aware of those feelings and willing to act on them - I was no fool, I knew that not many people would want to risk the consequences of such a scandal - The Clergy, as always, would be a danger, as well as other courtiers who are not afraid to advance their position through blackmail or by ruining the reputation of their superiors - not many would want to sneak out of rooms and leap across balconies like Isabelle had to do. I was well aware that I most likely will never find a relationship anything like the one Isabelle and I shared, however, that didn't stop me from being interested and excited over the potential prospect of Ippolita.

"Yes Teresa," Lucrezia replied as we finally reached the stairs and headed down the steps to the first floor "Do you want to meet her?"

"Very well," I replied as we arrived at the bottom of the stairs in the main hall, the massive double doors stood proudly at the opposite end of the room and the large windows revealed that it is snowing once again - again, I wasn't sure why Torino has become so cold as of late, however, historical records seem to indicate that this is a rather recent phenomenon - recent in that this shift has happened within the last five generations or so. This wasn't limited to just Torino either, Iceland and Greenland, distant Nordic islands are often cut off by sea for weeks at a time during the winters, English rivers freeze over, and there's even been snow as far south as Lisbon - The Portuguese capital is very far south and is on The Atlantic Coast, meaning that the warm ocean water is able to regulate the temperature, however, even that is not enough to stop the rare snowstorm in the city - given that Torino was relatively far from the Ligurian Coast and sits quite near The Alps, this city is certainly going to get snow if Europe has gotten so cold to the point that Lisbon does.

Portugal, unlike every other Kingdom in Iberia, has managed to resist being absorbed into Spain, mainly because Portugal manages to play their allies in Spain and England off of each other, meaning that should Spain try to conquer Portugal, England would step in and effectively bring that battle into a stalement, meanwhile, should England try to replace their lost French holdings with Iberian ones, they can expect stiff retribution from Spain, additionally, Portugal is managing to become a significant colonial power, being virtually the only opposition to Spain in The New World now as The English and French are only just beginning to carve out their own overseas territories, even then for the most part The English and The French avoided taking colonies from The Spanish themselves, rather they wanted to establish their own - I did imagine that England, France, Spain, and perhaps even Portugal would get involved in a major colonial conflict somewhere down the line, however, for right now, the other nations wished to establish a foothold in The New World before even bothering to challenge the authority of The Spanish - and if you were to ask The Pope, then The Borgias of Spain have an exclusive right to the entire New World - however, that was hardly going to stop The French and The English, they were already quite accustomed to the fact that Spain was allied to The Papal States and The Papal States would do everything that they could do benefit Spain in order for The Pope to have protection as he pursued Romagna. The unfortunate reality is that, right now, The Pope, in addition to his rightful religious authority, also holds quite a bit of secular authority and therefore has enemies and allies just like any other European power - granted with the additional risk of Excommunication should a ruler side against The Papal States - however, The Duchy of Savoy, despite being allied with Milan against The Papacy, had very good relations with them right now, certainly better than we had when we were desperate for allies during the diplomatic visit all those years ago - speaking of, despite the fact that Isabelle and I certainly established very, very good relations between each other, The Kingdom of Jerusalem was not particularly interested in our plight, therefore, we opted to bring ourselves closer to our neighbors in Milan and France instead - we were well aware that this meant we were endanger of being reduced to a position like Provence - a minor power locked in France's sphere of influence - however, these were the circumstances we founded ourselves in and we could hardly face the likes of Austria and Spain without their help - sure Naples managed a crushing defeat of Aragon all those years ago, however, even then Castille had been larger and stronger than their neighbor, and once Aragon lost to their former subject, it took practically no time at all for Aragon to be absorbed by their neighbor and thus creating The Kingdom of Spain.

Europe is in a transitional era, power is getting more and more concentrated in fewer and fewer hands - almost all of Iberia is now ruled by Spain, almost everything between The Holy Roman Empire and Spain is either ruled by France or in France's sphere of influence - such as Provence - meanwhile Austria is increasingly in control of their neighbors in Hungary, to the point where Hungary is essentially a vassal of Austria, meanwhile, beyond Hungary lies The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the titanic defender of The Catholic faith ruling a massive domain from The Baltic Sea to The Black Sea, in addition to significant exclaves in Russia - Muscovy and Novgorod, the strongest of The Russian Principalities, cannot compete with the combined Polish and Lithuanian nation, the last time they tried The Poles forced Muscovy to transfer over the vassalage of Tver and Permia. Even in The Holy Roman Empire the only states besides The Emperor in Austria to wield real power are the electors, and out of the electors, only Brandenburg, Saxony, and Bohemia have the military power to support their electoral power. Virtually all of Europe is unifying into these massive Kingdoms, these borderline Empires, to the point where it looks like soon enough The Great Powers of England, France, Austria, and Spain may be the only countries wielding any power in western Europe, everyone else would be a vassal or a puppet, and to the east The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has already crushed The Teutons, The Livonians, The Ruthenians, The Crimeans, The Goths, and The Genoese, and they've repelled The Russians and The Ottomans. Speaking of, The Ottoman Empire has been completely halted and is slowly being consumed by rebellions in The Balkans, Europe proved that The Ottomans could be beaten when both The Ottomans and The Mamluks were beaten and The Kingdom of Jerusalem was established, this is truly the age of western Europe, this is the age where ships leave their ports in Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain to explore the world, this is the age where western Europe permanently leaves their mark upon the world, and unfortunately, Italy is being left behind, Naples controls everything south of Rome but they are a young country, The Neapolitans haven't had the chance to establish themselves yet, not even Naples seems to be able to unify Italy, we rename divided, we remain as small bickering states - Venice, once the greatest of us, has fallen from grace as their economy has been shattered ever since The Portuguese started sending their ships to The Orient via The Oceans rather than through the formerly Venetian dominated Mediterranean Sea, The Papal States remain strong but realistically The Papal States are considered as an extension of Spain's power rather than their own.

In any case, Lady Lucrezia and I reached the Palazzo's throne room and I finally got to see Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato. She wore a dark green dress with a matching coat - understandable given the weather - her skin was darkened by her mix of Italian and Grecian features, giving her a well-defined heart shaped face, leading up to her dark brown eyes - recently a local doctor came to my court and revealed yet another fantastical new crop from The New World, he said that Spaniards recently discovered these little deep brown eggs that The Indians referred to as cocoa, the doctor allowed us to have a free taste of some of these cocoa beans as he called them, they were incredibly bitter, however, when the doctor revealed that certain monastic societies in Spain have taken these New World cocoa beans and crushed them up, adding them to a drink and introducing sugar, intrigued, we tried this concoction, the sweetness overcame the bitterness and this cocoa was a beautiful drink, a drink that, according to the doctor, could even cure The Plague - Ippolita's beautiful brown eyes reminded me of this wonderful miracle drink the doctor introduced to us. Ippolita had long and curly black hair, hair that I knew I could just get my fingers trapped in - and I could already tell that I would very much enjoy such a move, I wanted to entangle my fingers in her hair as we shared a deep kiss and pressed our bare body's together - indeed, Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato was a very beautiful young woman, merely a few months younger than I was, and, therefore, I considered her an ideal conquest, perhaps she could be the one to finally fill the void that Isabelle left in my heart, perhaps I could one day love Ippolita too, I wasn't sure, but I was sure that she was incredibly attractive and I was sure that I would definitely be pursuing her.

"Hello my Lady," Ippolita bowed - during which, I couldn't help but notice that she had very pleasant frontal assets.

"Hello Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato, welcome to The Palazzo di Torino," I greeted her just like I greeted Lucrezia - I took her hand and kissed it - before introducing her to Lucrezia "This is Lady Lucrezia di Torino," I felt no need to tell that Lucrezia had once been my handmaiden, that wasn't important right now and I had already made Lucrezia a Lady, therefore, I shouldn't diminish her new-found nobility by introducing her as a former handmaiden, her origins were now irrelevant, for because she may one day be the mother of a King, perhaps even an Emperor, she's nobility now, and she's very attractive, I'm certain Lady Lucrezia will be getting some very significant suitors sooner rather than later, and in the meantime, it was time for me to play the role of the suitor with Ippolita, a pretender to the thrones of Duchies and a long defunct Empire, but she was a very, very attractive pretender.

"Hello Lady Lucrezia," Ippolita greeted Lucrezia, who officially the same rank as her, however, obviously a member of a cadet branch of a dynasty that once ruled The Byzantine Empire - the legitimate successor state of The Roman Empire - held more prestige than a woman who was the sole member of her dynasty, however, for all we know, one day The House di Torino will be far more famous than The House Paleologo-Monferrato, I didn't know what would happen in the future but the fact is that, right now, despite the same current rank and an unknown future, Ippolita was much more prestigious and much more famous - granted I understood why and I do agree that a dynasty's history is crucial even if that particular dynasty is currently in a bad state, I just happen to currently be biased in favor of my longtime handmaiden and friend over the newcomer in my court who I just so happen to be attracted to - Lucrezia was an absolute godsend during all the drama with Isabelle and our short stint as lovers on the shores of Lake Geneva, in fact I later found out that Lucrezia calmed Marie down after Isabelle and I were forced to make a fool off her to cover up our sins, and Lucrezia proved her loyalty as a friend because, even now where she has her own land and her own home, she still lives here in The Palazzo, she still ensures that I'll never be lonely.

"How was your trip?" I asked Ippolita, referring to her trip from her home in Monferrato to here in Torino - it must have been rather difficult given that it's winter and snowing.

"The weather definitely complicated things, my Lady, however, we managed." she replied.

"Good," I replied before flirting openly with her, making sure that nothing was heard by anyone besides myself, my next conquest, Ippolita, and my most trusted friend in the form of Lady Lucrezia "Traveling in this weather is certainly very risky, I'm glad to see such a beauty like yourself unharmed."

"Oh you do flatter me, my Lady," Ippolita laughed and I grinned, I quickly glanced over to Lucrezia, who was wearing a bemused expression - she already knew exactly what I was up to - I had flirted with most of the young women in my court, however thus far I had no luck, because, as I mentioned, not very women in this time period even know about their feelings and of those that do, few are willing to risk the severe consequences of acting on those feelings, but I didn't care anymore, I knew my feelings and I knew that I would pursue them - granted I wasn't stupid, I kept my flirting entirely within the realm of plausible deniability, saying only as much as I needed to make the courtier consider the fact that I could be flirting, because that would be enough for me to act on in more private circumstances. I was well aware that whispers were spreading throughout my court and I would have to be naïve to think that the clergy haven't heard at least some of those whispers, but I was confident that there wasn't enough evidence for them to act one - my kissing the hand routine wasn't inherently romantic, my flirting was carefully worded to ensure plausible deniability, and my each and every letter in my correspondence with Isabelle was carefully worded as well - I was doing enough to ensure my own safety and I was careful to avoid making any enemies in my court who could use those whispers as blackmail.

I didn't know exactly how Isabelle would react to me pursuing Ippolita, we both knew that our relationship was over but we hadn't ever discussed the idea of either of us getting into another relationship - then again, given the circumstances, I wasn't sure if we even had to communicate that to each other, in fact, for all that I knew Isabelle was pursuing her own relationship right now - but I had no answer either way, therefore, I would be sure to tell Isabelle about this once I received her next letter - needless to say it took a considerable amount of time for letters to come back and forth from Torino, in northwestern Italia, all the way to The Kingdom of Jerusalem in The Levant between North Africa and Anatolia - but that wouldn't deter Isabelle and I, we would still do anything and everything in our power to minimize how massive the distance between us felt, even if we could do nothing to actually reduce the distance between us - at least not yet anyway, I wasn't entirely disposed to the idea of conquering my way to Isabelle in the future - I was aware that this was next to impossible and would be a huge waste of resources, however, I enjoyed the fantasy of fighting my way through Italia and then down The Balkans to Constantinople, where I would sack the city and perhaps even liberate it before crossing into Anatolia and continuing my warpath all the way down to The Levant, all the way down to The Kingdom of Jerusalem, all the way down to Isabelle's chambers...it was definitely an entertaining fantasy.

"Hello my Ladies," I turned to see Marie, still a handmaiden, had arrived "Welcome Ippolita, my name is Marie, I will take you to your room."

"Pleasure to meet you Ippolita, I'm sure we'll be getting to know each other very well." I told her as she left with Marie "Enjoy your stay."

"Goodbye my Marchioness." Ippolita replied and walked away, all while I enjoyed the sight of her figure walking away.

"Here we go again," Lucrezia laughed.

"What? Surely you see that she's beautiful," I grinned and replied.

"She is Teresa, she is," Lucrezia admitted "I just hope you don't end up heartbroken this time."

"Isabelle was special, Lucrezia." I spoke very quietly and very seriously "I don't think anyone else will match that."

"I'm sorry Teresa," Lucrezia comforted me as I had to mentally go through the memories of that damned carriage leaving the estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, that damned carriage that took my Jerusalemite Princess away. I gave my former handmaiden and now my courtier a hug as I cried on her shoulder, missing my former lover, missing the love that I shared with Isabelle nearly three years ago - hopefully Ippolita could one day fill the void in my heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has been the first chapter of act two - surprisingly, yet again, a one scene chapter - and the start of the action in Torino.


	7. The Making of a Lady and a Lover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify something that I'm sure you've already noticed, but the point of departure from actual history to this story is somewhere around the Renaissance. I did it this way in order to give me greater control over events in the story and introduce potential historical scenarios that didn't occur in real life. This means that various borders, states, and dynasties in this story are different than they really would be if this story diverged in 1555 when it started.

Act II.

The Lady of Piemonte.

Chapter VII.

The Making of a Lady and a Lover.

* * *

"Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato," I begin in the throne room, we were going through the ceremony of formally making Ippolita a Lady "You have been born to a prestigious family, a family that has been cooperative with The Duchy of Savoy throughout history, you have journeyed to The Palazzo di Torino bringing a significant donation from your family, asking only for the privilege to become a Lady of The State in return, therefore, I, Teresa di Savoia, Marchioness of Torino and heiress to The Duchy of Savoy, promise to protect your estate, to issue a justified and agreeable tax, and I name you Lady Ippolita, and I grant you an estate of five acres, effective July 1rst, 1558, year of our Lord. Arise Lady Ippolita and represent your House and your Duchy with pride."

"Thank you, my Marchioness." Ippolita replied before rising from where she had bowed on the ground, shortly after she had arrived I was informed that with her, she brought a significant gift, no doubt to guarantee that she would be made a Lady, therefore, I obliged. I promised that, in the summer, I'd grant her an estate outside of Torino, giving her five acres - an acre being an approximation of how much could be plowed in a day, there was no wide consensus on the size of an acre, Savoy had differently sized acres than places like Genoa or Brandenburg, for example, however, what all acres had in common was the purpose of the unit - it was a way to administer the division of land and, more importantly, to tax it - though I also promised that the tax will be fair and consistent, I had no intention of being oppressive to my landholders, nor did my mother, The Duchess. We were living in an interesting period, feudalism is still the norm around Europe, however, Dukes and Kings were increasingly centralizing their power at the expense of landed nobility, this doesn't necessarily mean that there were less nobles and landholders, far from it, rather this means that, despite all the nobles existing, none of them were nearly as powerful as they once were - there once was a time where a vassal was a legitimate threat to his or her liege, where vassals would seek more and more land and power within their borders and perhaps even beyond - in fact, The Duke of Burgundy, who despite once being just as powerful as The King of France, despite once being one of The Great Powers of Europe - until The Duke of Burgundy died without a heir and his lands were divided between France and Spain - was technically a subject of The King of France, but Burgundy was the exception, for the most part subjects are either high ranking in their own right - such as Dukes, Princes, and even The King of Bohemia, who is subject to The Holy Roman Emperor - or individually irrelevant nobility. Now, obviously the entire nobility was very powerful, however, an individual noble had nowhere near as much power as a vassal from The Middle Ages, a time that wasn't all that long ago.

Up until a few decades ago, The Duchy of Savoy was also a member of The Holy Roman Empire, part of the administrative region of The Kingdom of Italy, however The Italian states were not stupid, we saw what The Holy Roman Empire was: it was a German nation, The Emperor, time after time again was an Austrian Habsburg, elected by seven German heads of state - The King-Elector of Bohemia, The Princes of Brandenburg and Saxony, The Archbishops of Cologne, Trier, and Mainz, and The Count Palatine of The Rhine - and the role of The Pope in this supposedly Holy Empire was increasingly diminishing, ultimately, The Italian states came to realize that this Kingdom of Italy was in fact a Shadow Kingdom, a feeble attempt by Germans to rule over Italy, despite the fact that The Dukes of Savoy and Milan held more land than most of the electors, despite the fact that Genoa and Firenze were richer than the vast majority of Princes in The Holy Roman Empire, and, despite all of this, The Holy Roman Emperor didn't bother to help The Duke of Milan during The Second Lombard War against Venice, despite the fact that The Duke of Milano was a loyal subject while The Doge of Venezia rejected Imperial authority - the list of grievances goes on and on, the point is that The Holy Roman Emperor was not taking Italy seriously, thus, Savoy, along with all the remaining Italian States that answered to The Emperor rejected his authority.

The next few decades will be crucial for Italia, we became the birthplace of The Renaissance, we've left The Holy Roman Empire, The Kingdom of Naples finally declared independence after centuries of being locked under foreign rule, whether it was Normans, The French House d'Anjou, or The Aragonese, all this means that this could be the century of Italy, this could be a golden age, but it all depends on what happens next - for all we know, we here in Savoy and our neighbors in Milano simply traded our German shackles for French ones, perhaps The House de Valois will seek to rule over Naples just like their relatives in The House d'Anjou once did, perhaps The Habsburgs would be able to use Ferrara as a spring board to rebuilding The Kingdom of Italy - we didn't know, but we would do everything in our power to ensure that historians would remember this century, The 16th Century, as the century of The Italians. I was increasingly apprehensive about what would happen when I ascended to the throne, between worries over French influence and the seemingly inevitable war for Romagna, I knew that one day historians would be scrutinizing my every move, wondering what gave me to edge to achieve The Duchy of Savoy's ambitious goals or wondering what blunders damned The Duchy to being a glorified subject of France. I was nervous that I would be the one to ruin the reputation of The House di Savoia forever, sure so far I've been able to manage a city and the surrounding area pretty well, but a city, even a city as big as Torino was one thing, governing a Duchy - the largest Duchy in Italia for that matter - was a different matter entirely, and, quite frankly, I just plain wasn't sure if I was cut out for it - I do want to become Duchess, I do think my mother Giovanna Vittoria II taught me everything that I needed to know, I just wasn't sure if I could execute things the way my mother did, I wasn't sure if anyone could, in fact, if it wasn't for the fact that my father Gianmaria The Pious was rendered landless, I probably would've been a d'Este rather than a di Savoia - granted I still am a d'Este, however, I wasn't particularly invested in that side of my lineage, even if that did mean that I was a pretender to The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena - and given that such a strange event like Giovanna Vittoria II's brothers dying, which seemingly meant the end of the main line of The House of Savoy - I had cousins and other relatives within junior branches of the family that would've likely inherited - was followed closely by Habsburg conquest of Ferrara, leaving Gianmaria without a heir and the betrothal between the two was quickly converted to a matrilineal betrothal, given that such an event was very unlikely, I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to get a marriage that would continue my dynasty - additionally, I didn't want to have children for rather obvious reasons - my younger brother Pietro di Savoia held the weight of the continuation of the main line of our dynasty on his shoulders.

Given the weight of The Duchy and The Dynasty, as well as the seemingly inevitable war over Romagna, I had to wonder what I would do if I was Duchess of Savoy when fighting broke out. I would likely lead from towards the rear of the battle field, close enough to observe fighting and command troops but not quite close enough to risk my life or even to engage in personal combat, because first of all, I was a woman, I was naturally disadvantaged in combat, and second of all, like I said, the main line of our House is at risk. Perhaps when Pietro comes of age he would want to lead troops on the front line, but then again, the main line of The Dynasty is endangered, inheritance by a cousin wasn't ideal, but at least that would mean that The Duchy of Savoy would still be ruled by The House di Savoia. Savoyard troops, likely still mainly mercenaries, would march across The Duchy of Milan and meet our allies on the battlefields in Romagna, meanwhile, French troops would engage our enemies on four fronts, attacking south and east into Spain and their Burgundian holdings, crossing The Duchies of Savoy and Milan into Romagna, and attacking The Habsburg holdings along The Rhine - France's ally, Provence, reigns over Lorraine, which nears The Rhineland, meanwhile, The Kingdom of Naples would attack The Papal States from the south, forcing them into a two front war, now, France would be fighting on twice as many front, however, France was perhaps even the strongest of The Great Powers, having pushed The English off of continental Europe and taken roughly a third of Burgundy's former land in the deal with Spain - Spain took the parts of Burgundy conventionally considered to be part of The Holy Roman Empire, such as the easternmost regions of France, Luxembourg, and The Low Countries - France could handle fighting on multiple fronts, The Papal States perhaps could not. Spain meanwhile was preoccupied with her overseas colonies and would need to defend those holdings in eastern France and The Low Countries, as well as their own borders, and assisting their Papal allies in Romagna itself, meanwhile, The Habsburgs had to secure their authority in The Holy Roman Empire, deal with the pestering protestants rising up throughout their Imperial lands, and had to exert their authority over their Hungarian allies - which, given that Hungary was roughly twice the size of Austria and was home to a multi-ethnic population, was easier said than done - not to mention that The Habsburg expanse into Hungary wasn't necessarily welcomed by The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who shared a long, long border with Hungary - all this meant that meant that our ragtag alliance actually had a very good chance of winning the war, and perhaps The Duchy of Savoy would have a favorable position when negotiating. I'd imagine that, first and foremost, Milano would get Romagna, uniting both branches of The House of Sforza - the one ruling The Duchy of Milan and the one ruling over the cities of Forli and Imola within Romagna and would likely demand that The Emperor turn a blind eye to Milanese expansion into Switzerland - we ruled over the cantons of Vaud and Valais, Milano similarly wanted a few Swiss cantons to rule over - France would no doubt demand the surrender of the rest of Burgundy's former French holdings, perhaps even significant amounts of land from The Low Countries, perhaps even demanding Spain's western Mediterranean Islands - however, Corsica and Sardegna are culturally Italian, if they were to change hands, we would prefer them to change hands to someone like us over someone like France, additionally, I would want control over Ferrara and Modena from The Habsburgs, retaking my father's rightful lands, however, it was a bit ridiculous to think of a peace treaty long before a war has actually begun, still, it was nice to know what I wanted, that would help us plan for what we would conquer during the fighting.

In any case, the ceremony was over, Ippolita was now formally a Lady of Torino, she was now formally my courtier, hopefully this meant that I'd have opportunities to bring us even closer together - hopefully this would mean that I could soon fill the void that Isabelle left in my heart.

* * *

A few days later it was an unusually warm day in Torino, the sun came out and the snow was rapidly melting - it was by no means summer weather, but it was unseasonably warm and we would definitely be enjoying this brief reprieve of the winter, I was walking down the steps with Lady Lucrezia, Catalina Piemonte - a local Lady - and two handmaidens - Marie and Giulia - a group of six Pikemen - professional soldiers, not mercenaries - waited patiently near the doors, these would be our guards as we walked around the city on this warm day - my childhood explorative and sociable nature still remained, I wanted to be a well known and sociable Marchioness, however, I was not naïve, I knew that no matter what I did, I was Marchioness and thus a target for assassinations and other such uprisings, thus, as our group walked around the city, we would be accompanied by Captain Ludovico and his men. As I reached the bottom of the steps I noticed that Lady Ippolita was curiously watching us from the corner of the room, I made my way over to her.

"Hello Lady Ippolita," I greeted.

"Greetings my Marchioness," she reciprocated.

"Today's a very warm day, excellent weather, a few of us are going on a walk around the city - would you like to join us? Get a tour of the city perhaps?" I invited her to accompany us.

"A walk?" she asked.

"Why yes," I replied "This is probably the best the weather will be before the spring." This really was a lovely day and a lovely girl like Ippolita would only make things better - I was relatively free to flirt on this journey, Lucrezia was obviously aware of my sexuality, Cristina was at the receiving end of my flirting not too long ago, but I gave up when Cristina assured me of her heterosexuality. I was pretty sure Marie was beginning to catch on and Giulia definitely knew, she was rapidly becoming my favorite and most trusted handmaiden, filling the massive shoes Lucrezia left behind when I made her a Lady - I had let Giulia know of my sexuality while I was attempting to court Cristina - in addition to being firmly heterosexual, I didn't think she and I would be a very good fit romantically, I much preferred her as a friend, and right now she was my second best friend, behind only Lucrezia.

"Oh," Ippolita realized "Yes please, I would like to join you."

"Well then, let's go." I said and lead the group out of The Palazzo di Torino, I lead the way, Ippolita next to me, Cristina and Lucrezia were just behind, a few steps behind them were Marie and Giulia, and behind them, Captain Ludovico lead his soldiers in two columns behind us, each of them holding a Pike in their hands, each of the soldiers also carried an arquebus - the most common type of firearm in Europe - had a rapier on their hip, and wore heavy metal armor, our professional army was still very small, however, in a way this was a blessing in disguise, because the few soldiers we had meant that we could afford to have among the most modern soldiers in Italia - meanwhile, if we were to go to war, such as in Romagna, the bulk of our armies would be mercenaries, who, for the most part, were using their own equipment. The Duchy of Savoy was growing quite wealthy, we sat at the crossroads of French, German, and Italian trade routes on land, and, between the ports of Nice and Albenga, we were increasingly getting involved in trade in not only The Ligurian Sea, but the entire Mediterranean Sea beyond that, virtually taking away Genoa's role as the chief trading power of The Western Mediterranean - for now, Venice and The Ottomans still dominated The Eastern Mediterranean - this wealth meant that, not only were our professional soldiers very well maintained and our mercenaries always paid on time, but we were very much investing in our own defense - we were increasingly replacing or upgrading our few remaining castles and fortress with new bastions and star forts, designed to better cope against sieges by cannons - of course we also invested in plenty of cannons of our own, we would be able to dish out plenty of our own firepower - which right now was mainly designed to deal with Spanish, Austrian, and Papal threats, however, we were still very careful to be very well aware of France's military and to be ready to defend them, because, right now they may be our allies, but we would have to be naïve to think that France didn't want to seize Nice and our very capital of Chambery - which is also why I think we should eventually bite the bullet and make Torino our capital, using The Alps as a shield to defend ourselves against any potential French aggression - besides that, I didn't feel too threatened by any of our other neighbors - Provence is practically a French subject, and, by extension, so is The Kingdom of Jerusalem - Switzerland, while definitely not pleased with us controlling Swiss cantons, certainly didn't want war over it, Genoa was weak to the point of irrelevance, and our goals and Milano's were intertwined - Italia being strong and independent first and foremost, and it certainly helped that we were allies with them - a very powerful alliance between France, Milano, us here in Savoy, Naples, and a few other small players, such as Milan's ally Mantua and France's glorified subject Provence - Jerusalem wasn't involved because of the vast distance between Italia and The Levant, the very same vast distance that was between myself and Isabelle...

But I was moving on now, wasn't I? I was attracted to all these courtiers and Ippolita in particular, perhaps now that meant that I could fill the void in my heart, to replace Isabelle...but was that all Ippolita would be to me? a replacement? I wasn't sure what I was going to do, Ippolita was very beautiful and I certainly wanted to learn more about her personality, her interests, her longings, her quirks, I wanted to be her friend, her lover, and her confidant, her all-in-one companion, however, I wasn't sure if I could really be that, I wasn't sure if I really wanted Ippolita or if I just wanted someone to act as a canvas who I could paint pictures of Isabelle on, a weak impersonation of my true love. I didn't even know my own motivations for pursuing her, but I did know that I wanted to pursue her, I'm just afraid that my attempts to do so may result in not just one broken heart, but two...I really needed to tell Isabelle about this - I wish Isabelle was here so I could talk to her about this, but since I wasn't sure about my motivations here, would I even be pursuing Ippolita if Isabelle was here? I really needed to write to my Jerusalemite Princess about this, and in the mean time I needed to talk to Lucrezia about this in private. Meanwhile, I would continue doing what I'm doing with Ippolita, lightly flirting with her and befriending her, hopefully I'd be able to talk to both Lucrezia and Isabelle before anything too serious happened between myself and Ippolita, if not...well I suppose I'll go with what my heart decides upon on my behalf.

Meanwhile, our party moved through the gardens of The Palazzo di Torino, the cobblestone walkways were entirely clear but a few melting patches of snow remained on the garden plots. We reached the end of the gardens and arrived at a central square, at the center was a statue of my Great Great Uncle Guglielmo di Savoia sat on a prancing horse, his brother was Duke of Savoy and he was Marchioness of Torino, nevertheless, Guglielmo became famous for his decisive role as a general of our alliance during The Second Lombard War, given his significant victories and his popular support from residents, as well as briefly ruling all of Savoy as Duke-Regent, he was honored by a statue in the center of Torino's Royal Square - beyond the statue and opposite of The Palazzo's gardens was The Duomo Nuovo di Torino, a gilded new Cathedral built in a mixture of Italian Gothic and Renaissance architecture, The Church had a marble and gold façade towering over The Royal Square, and The Cathedral was made even taller by its tall dome. In true Renaissance Italia fashion, however, the companion bell tower was separate from, and taller than The Cathedral itself. The New Cathedral was built for our Archbishop, shortly before I was born Savoy became home to its very first Archbishop, a very great honor for a mere Duchy, in any case, in addition to The Duomo Nuovo Torino also had The Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista, also called The Duomo di Torino, home to The House di Savoia's most Holy treasure, The Shroud of Torino.

"This is The Royal Square," I told Ippolita "That statue is Guglielmo di Savoia, and that is The Duomo Nuovo."

"Definitely a beautiful square," she replied "It's very different from Monferrato, the most interesting things there are the vineyards."

"Vineyards have a purpose," I smiled "Perhaps one day we'll share some wine together."

"Do you drink?" Ippolita asked, I have tried alcohol before, Italian royalty simply does not celebrate an occasion without a generous amount of wine, however, I certainly didn't drink much at all, however, I had no qualms about potentially doing so with a beautiful woman - I'd imagine that few people would complain about such a situation.

"Not really," I replied "But for you I'll make an exception."

"Oh? I'm special then?" Ippolita smirked, I smiled internally, she had caught on and, not only did she lack even a hint of a negative reaction, but she had in fact gone so far as to reciprocate, she was open to flirting, perhaps she would be open to more later on, however, I'd take things slow this time, enjoy my time simply courting Ippolita rather than having to rush towards understanding our feelings like Isabelle and I had to do two years ago, not to mention that I wanted to discuss this new relationship of mine with Lucrezia and Isabelle.

"I'm not quite sure, are you?" I smirked in return, a quick glance showed Lucrezia and Cristina were bemused to watch me at work, Marie didn't seem particularly phased, Giulia's expression seemed sad...jealousy perhaps? I might have to deal with that later on, as for the guards, none of them seemed particularly concerned about my interactions with Ippolita, the guards knew that their job was to protect us, not to judge us, and I could respect Captain Ludovico and his men for that, they were soldiers through and through, they were not spies or gossips. We were in public, however, right now the other people were giving us a rather wide berth - I wanted to be a benevolent ruler and I wanted to be loved rather than feared or God forbid to be outright hated, however, I was also aware that I had only been reigning for a few short months, I still needed time to fully establish myself as that benevolent and social ruler - I did hope that the people would notice that I took the opportunity to go and walk around the city - I knew that the guards were a bit excessive, however, I had no choice as the tensions over Romagna meant that it was a very real possibility that a Papal assassin could attempt to slit my throat, or a Spaniard may attack me with a sharp and deadly rapier, or perhaps a Habsburg shooter could dispatch me from a distance with a firearm, because of these risks from a wide variety of enemies, I figured it was better to travel with such a modern and heavily armed guard, because then, at very least, should an assassin send me from this Earth, than at least Captain Ludovico and his men shall ensure that the assassin, or perhaps even assassins, suffer the same fate.

Renaissance Italia was no stranger to assassinations and conspiracies, The last of The Visconti Dukes of Milano was assassinated by a diverse group of conspirators, including The Most Serene Doge of Venezia, several minor members of The House of Habsburg, as well as The Duke of Monferrato, who at the time was a vassal of Savoy, and a particularly rebellious one at that - he was part of the reason why my ancestors and predecessors eventually decided to revoke the titles of The House of Paleologo-Monferrato and incorporating The Duchy of Monferrato - in any case, The Visconti rulers were gone and Milano was launched into chaos. The nobles seized power and tried to establish a Republic, meanwhile, we joined a broad coalition in favor of a new Duke, initially, we hoped to either rule Milano in a personal union or at least place a relative on the throne, however, like the rest of our alliance, we were eventually won over by Filippo Galeazzo Sforza, a bastard son of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and a distinguished condottiero, he was charismatic, an excellent General, and he had the most legitimate claim to the throne - and of course it helped that he promised to honor The Visconti's alliances and commitments, he was as close as we could get to status quo - and, with Filippo Galeazzo at the helm, our royalist coalition was able to crush the republican forces and reestablish The Duchy of Milan - Italia was home to many Republics, in fact, Italia is home to the entire republican form of government through our Roman precursors, however, that did not mean we would stand ideally by while our fellow monarchies crumbled. Republics are fickle things, the people choose rulers based on emotions and their stupid preconceptions, I feel that a ruler crafted by his or her royal parents to become heir was better than whichever noble managed to convince a majority of electors to approve him for a term, granted, this meant that Republics didn't have to worry over succession crises, however, they were still a hassle to maintain relations with, for every ruler we manage to normalize relations only serves for a short period before he's replaced by an entirely different person. I like the people, I want to befriend them and serve them, however, I am not a fool, I know that the people are not interested in creating a successful state, they only care for their own self-interests, and I'd rather deal with a single person's self-interests rather than the selfish demands and whims of hundreds, or perhaps even thousands.

"This is The Ponte di Savoia, one of the main crossings of The Po River." I told Ippolita as we reached the bridge and crossed to the other side of The Po River, in typical medieval fashion, this was a wide stone bridge with houses and shops built on either side, it was a typical custom back then to build buildings on bridges, even large and heavy ones, needless to say this meant that a lot of bridges collapsed under the weight, thus such a style was increasingly falling out of fashion, however, we were not going to simply evict people from their homes and clear the bridges of these houses, instead, we simply renovated the bridge itself and strengthened it to ensure it will hold the weight of the builds, and of the massive amounts of people who cross it everyday. The bridge was named The Ponte di Savoia, obviously named after The House di Savoia, and before that, the bridge held various names, whether it be the name of a nearby landmark or of a local Saint, perhaps even a local leader, however, once we came to rule over Torino, we simply renamed the city after our dynasty. As we crossed the bridge the citizens heading the opposite direction stopped and bowed, showing proper respect for their Marchioness and their future Duchess, I simply smiled and thanked them for their loyalty before our group continued onwards on the opposite end of The Po River from The Palazzo. I saw plenty of people were walking throughout the city and enjoying the nice weather, for all of us knew that the cold and the snow of winter would soon return, however, for today, none of that mattered, because today the snow was melting and the weather felt much more like April than like January, today was just a small day and we were just enjoying today's weather, however, I could tell that the common people of Torino were very much surprised to see their Marchioness walking the streets with them, but it was a pleasant surprise, and I hope this could be the beginning of me establishing my benevolent reputation.

"Where are we going now?" Ippolita asked, her curious expression and soft, pleasant smile reminded me of Isabelle, reminded me of taking her to explore the villages around Lake Geneva and later to the castle at Romainmotier, I was instantly reminded of our rapid romance and of all the adventures we had together, all the adventures I was missing...I had been flirting with Ippolita up until this point, I had definitely developed an interest in her, but those five words - and more so the delivery of those five words - instantly reminded me of my previous love, instantly reminded me of what I had been longing for over these last few years, I knew that there was going to be more to this than a mere fling, I knew that this would be the second major relationship of my life, and I knew that I really did need help, advice, and, I guess even approval from Lucrezia and Isabelle, I was by no means ready to say that I loved Ippolita, or even that I was sure I liked her the why I want to like her, but I was definitely ready to admit that this was the biggest thing to happen to my romantic life since my Jerusalemite Princess was taken away from me by that damned carriage after our summer of love in 1555.

"We're going to see one last landmark then we'll head back to The Po, we'll cross over at The Ponte Nuovo and then return to The Palazzo." I explained to her, explaining my plan to essentially make a circle around Torino, leaving The Palazzo from behind and going through the gardens to The Royal Square and across The River, then to our last landmark before coming back to The River and crossing another one of the bridges over The Po before ending up back near the front of The Palazzo di Savoia.

"They say every day of the winter in Torino used to be like this," Lucrezia exclaimed, clearly pleased by today's cool rather than cold weather.

"I wish that was still the case," Cristina sighed, dreading the distinct possibility that tomorrow will be cold yet again.

"Don't we all?" I asked in response to that exchange between my friends.

"Oh Teresa, nice to see you've returned to Earth," Cristina quipped in response to my focus upon Ippolita.

"I don't know what you mean Lady Cristina, I simply happened to have been preoccupied with a more interesting courtier," I smirked.

"Interesting? Is that what we're calling it now?" Lucrezia joined in the fray.

"Sure, why not?" I replied.

"I'm not sure if you should be interested Teresa, a mere courtier...you can do better." Cristina teased Ippolita as well now.

"A mere courtier?" Ippolita now finally joined in as well "Try Byzantine Empress and Duchess of Monferrato, not to mention Piedmontese beauty."

"Now that, we can all agree upon." I jumped to respond to her Piedmontese beauty remark, earning a pleased giggle, she then let her hand brush against mine, my smirk turned into a genuine smile upon receiving this particular invitation and I grabbed Ippolita's hand, she reciprocated and held mine, this was a small step but now I knew Ippolita knew what I was up to and that she was willing to play along, additionally, she was not afraid to match wit with Cristina, Lucrezia, and I, that would definitely be a plus for her.

"Teresa," Ippolita said my name for the first time, sending shivers down my spine, shivers that were certainly welcome, in any case, she asked about our clasped hands "We're in public, aren't you worried?"

"No," I replied "We're holding hands, that's all, what do the citizens have to worry about?"

"Well..." she trailed off.

"Don't be worried," I replied "Just relax, no one needs to expect a thing."

So Ippolita and I held hands as we walked over to see The Colonna di Torino, a tall Roman column standing in The Old Market Square, the last remaining ruin of antiquity, a leftover of Italia's distant past when all of its companions were cut down for marble to use in various churches and palaces throughout Torino, no one is exactly sure what this column was part of, but we do know that everything else around it was long ago scrapped and scavenged for value, while this one remained and had this entire square built around it, The Old Market Square, much like The Roman Forum this column may have once been part of.

"A Byzantine Empress you say?" I asked, referring to her earlier quip about the rank to which she is a pretender "Well here is Torino's little slice of Greco-Roman architecture, a mighty marble obelisk - elegant and pure, much like someone I know."

"You flatter me Teresa," she blushed slightly as we faced each other, Captain Ludovico decided to show some initiative, he and his soldiers positioned themselves in such a way that they were facing outwards and shielding us from sight - he definitely deserved a generous gift - and I took this opportunity to share a kiss with Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato. I put my hands on her hips and pulled her closer to me as our lips touched, she immediately joined in, throwing her arms around my neck and returning my kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this romance is still, admittedly, a quick one, however, at the time, I was trying to keep it slower and more realistic than the Isabelle and Teresa one from act one. I'll let you decide how effective it was.


	8. The Two Women of My Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter features something new that the others haven't, the use of italics to symbolize the letter Teresa is writing to Isabella. I will make sure I format this correctly before posting.

Act II.

The Lady of Piemonte.

Chapter VIII.

The Two Women of My Life.

* * *

_My Dearest Isabelle,_

Things between me and Ippolita were moving far more quickly than I expected, we had already shared our first kiss and I was sure we would share many, many more sooner than later, therefore, I had to overcome my nervousness now, I had to tell Isabelle about this as soon as possible, hence, I was writing to her now. She needed to know, and once I sent out this letter, I had to talk to Lucrezia about this. It seems that, right now, there's four women who dominate my life - my mother, Isabelle, Lucrezia, and now, it seems I can add Ippolita to that list.

_I miss you, my closest friend, my confidant, but I also know that the divide between us, nearly the entire Mediterranean Sea, is a constant danger to our friendship. I enjoy writing to you, I really do, and I never want to stop - however, a few days ago a very interesting courtier arrived at The Palazzo di Torino, her name is Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato, she's smart, she's beautiful, she can match wits with Cristina and Lucrezia with ease, it's perfect - I want to become friends with her, close friends, however, I will never forget the diplomatic visit, I will never forget us becoming best friends, but, it's just so difficult to maintain such a bond across such distances, therefore, I ask for your opinion on this, either that we shall try to overcome that distance and bring our intimate friendship back from the ashes, or for your blessing to pursue a new friendship._

I have mentioned that Isabelle and I communicate via writing each other letters, and I've mentioned that we've had to be very aware that our letters could be intercepted and used to either blackmail us or to outright reveal our secret, therefore, we need to be very careful when writing our letters, so we have developed a code to use when referring to our secrets. We referred to our relationship as a friendship, we never mentioned love or romance, therefore, should our letters be intercepted, we would have plausible deniability. I hated that we had to dance around the truth so delicately, I hated that we had to wait months for our letters to reach each other, I hated that we couldn't simply talk face to face, I wanted to see Isabelle, my Jerusalemite Princess, I wanted to hold her tight and I wanted to be able to talk to her openly about this, but I knew that we couldn't, and, that's much of the reason why I'm so intrigued by Ippolita, not only is she wonderful on her own merit but she can fulfill all the things I've been longing for, and, based on what I've experienced with her thus far, Ippolita is willing to do it as well! However, I'm fully aware that Isabelle has a special place in my heart, therefore, in the end, I asked her for her opinion, I don't think we can overcome the distance between us, our relationship won't be anything like what we experienced on the shores of Lake Geneva, however, it was her choice as much as mine, when I get her reply, if she decides she still wants to salvage our relationship, I will end things with Ippolita, I'll comply and try my hardest with Isabelle to maintain something over such a long distance, otherwise, if she decides that we really are doomed and gives me her blessing, I will be eternally grateful. In any case, I had no intention of ending my correspondence with Isabelle, I still wanted to write to her, I still wanted to talk to her, I still wanted to be her friend whether or not we maintain the romantic part of our relationship.

_Isabelle, I truly don't want you to misunderstand me, I still consider you a dear friend and I will cherish what we had together forever, however, I long for all the physical elements of a friendship, being together, laughing together, adventuring together, being friendly together - but that doesn't mean that you weren't special, far from it, you are special, you're wonderful, you're beautiful, and you'll have always been my first friend, and I'll have always been yours. I don't want what we had together to end, quite the opposite, I still want to write whenever possible and I definitely still want to see you if you ever make your way anyway near The Duchy of Savoy, but my life must go on, your life must go on, we can't simply ignore our friendship, one way or another we need to do something about them - but that's just as much your choice as it is mine._

In our code, being friendly together referred to the elements of the relationship that occurred in the nightly hours, and first friend was the first person we shared those experiences with - so, on that one night at the estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, that last night before Isabelle was taken away from me by that cursed carriage, Isabelle and I were being friendly together, and given that both of us had been pure prior to that, we were both first friends.

_I don't want to pressure you into making a decision you may regret Isabelle, I know our friendship is just as important to you as it was to me, I know that I'm asking a lot out of you, I don't care how long it takes you to make a decision, but no matter what, I shall see your response and I will obey whatever you say, I just needed to tell you about where I stood on the matter of our friendship and I needed to tell you about Ippolita, my new friend, because I wouldn't dare betray your trust Isabelle, you were far too good to me for me to ever do that. I miss you so much Isabelle, I wish that things were different, I wish that I could see you face to face once again, I wish that we could be together again, be friends again, but alas, things are so difficult right now, and we need to do something about this one way or another. I await your reply, my Jerusalemite Princess. Goodbye my best friend, goodbye Isabelle._

_Sincerely,_

_Teresa di Savoia, Marchioness of Torino._

I was hoping that Isabelle would give me her blessing, but I knew that I was only half of our relationship, if Isabelle decided that she wanted to try and resurrect the remains of our love, I will certainly do my part and sincerely try to rebuild things with her - no matter what, as long as this relationship exists, I have no intention of doing anything without Isabelle's blessings. I had to said as long as the relationship exists because, quite frankly, I don't know exactly how Isabelle sees our relationship at this point - we can't talk intimately about our love over these letters, we can't speak as carefully and truly as we need to, however, there's no other way to do this - for all I know, Isabelle still considers our relationship entirely intact, she may not feel the strain of this distance as much as I do - we both have conveyed a desire to see each other again and we both long for a reprise of what happened on the shores of Lake Geneva, however, I had no idea about her stance on the current state of our relationship - I see our relationship as either over or completely doomed, but Isabelle may consider this a great betrayal, she may be devoted to preserving our relationship - we did love each other, but realistically, our relationship was a glorified fling that happened nearly three years ago - despite all those difficulties, she may consider me a cheating liar. I had to talk to Lucrezia about this and make sure that the letter's worded as clearly as possible and my love for her is conveyed properly - this wasn't a betrayal, this was just moving on, and despite moving on, I still intended to be her friend, I still intended to write her letters whenever possible, and I still wanted to see her if she ever finds herself anywhere near The Duchy of Savoy or if I ever find some excuse to make my way over to The Kingdom of Jerusalem.

* * *

I was rushing across The Palazzo di Torino towards Lady Lucrezia's room, she was still my most trusted friend and certainly the best person I could talk to about this, I carried the letter rolled tightly into a scroll - I didn't want anyone to see this except for myself, Lucrezia, and eventually Isabelle, even if the wording was already engineered to be vague enough to be safe in the case of a particularly nosey messenger or the letter being intercepted somehow - I passed The Palazzo's mighty glass windows and saw that once again it was snowing - the short reprieve of nice weather was over, the cold had returned, and with it, came all the drama of the coming days - all beginning as I made my way towards Lucrezia's room with my letter to Isabelle.

The first bit of drama came as I was passing the staff's quarters - I had noticed that one door was cracked slightly open, Giulia's door - Giulia, my replacement for Lucrezia as handmaiden, a young local girl who had thus far proven to be an excellent companion and a great help, however, I had never expected what would happen next. I told Giulia about my sexuality while attempting to woo Cristina - who in the end I decided wasn't a good fit for me anyway and I figured if anything happened to us, it would merely be a fling, because she was attractive after all, however, even that came to nothing as Cristina assured me of her heterosexuality, and I thought that had been the end of that whole episode, however, evidently, to Giulia, that was only the beginning - and, during our tour around the city, I had noticed a bit of a jealous expression upon her face, but I never thought that it would amount to what happened next. I opened the door to Giulia's room with the intent on reminding her that doors were always meant to be closed - it was a policy for everyone in The Palazzo, I valued my own privacy and I'm sure that everyone else did, additionally, I didn't want to deal with any complaints over intruding or even stealing, everyone would keep their private quarters closed, whether they're in the room or not, it was simply the best option for the most people.

"Hello my Marchioness," I saw Giulia's head peaking out from the other side of her bed - she must have been sitting on the floor, concealing everything below her head, I wasn't sure why "Could you close the door please?"

"Very well Giulia, I shut the door behind me and was about to walk over to her so I could gently reprimand her, however, before I could do so, she rose up from the floor, revealing her entirely naked body - my eyes opened wide and I was stopped dead in my tracks as my own handmaiden sauntered her way over to me, entirely bare, showing no shame on her cheeks or anywhere else, only a fiery and hungry intent in her eyes. I couldn't bring myself to move or even to speak as she pinned me against the wall, pressing her naked body into me.

"My Marchioness," she whispered into my ear "Why must you pursue courtiers when I want you more than they ever would?"

"Giulia..." I attempted to interject before she pressed her lips into mine without consent, silencing me, I managed to turn my head away but that didn't stop my lustful handmaiden who gladly brought her mouth upon my neck, evidently misinterpreting my recoiling and refusal for an invitation. I felt her hands feeling my body, moving across the fabric of my dress until her fingers reached the paper of the letter - if my eyes could've opened any wider, they would have - she snatched the letter out of my grasp and came off of me, reading it as I composed myself, trying to erase the damage she had down to my appearance - needless to say I hadn't dressed with the expectation of being groped by a handmaiden.

"What's this?" she asked as she skimmed over the letter, I watched her expression slowly change from fiery lust and desire to surprise, then shame, and finally, to heartbroken disappointment, all the while she didn't even bother to cover herself.

"Giulia," I got her attention, my voice authoritative "Give me my letter back."

"Yes, I'm sorry my Marchioness," she meekly apologized "I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me, I know that I was completely out of line."

"Giulia...what the hell were you thinking?" I asked, more flabbergasted than angry.

"I don't know Teresa," she shook her head and began to cry "I don't know."

"Hey," I grabbed Giulia's shoulder, well aware that my hand was touching her entirely bare skin "Believe me, you're beautiful, you are, but you saw me kissing Ippolita, you just read my letter to Princess Isabelle, I have far too many women in my life to begin with, I can't handle any more, I don't want any more...if the time and place was different then maybe I would have responded to your advances, maybe we could have made something of this, but quite frankly, things just aren't like that right now, I'm with Isabelle, I want to be with Ippolita, and there's no room for you right now - I'm sorry but that's just the reality of the situation, and I can't have my handmaidens borderline assaulting me like this!"

"I'm so very sorry," Giulia croaked out an apology from in between her tears.

"It's fine," I sighed "But Giulia - don't tell anyone about the letter, not a single person."

"I won't, my Marchioness," she swore her secrecy "I just ask that you also keep my outburst a secret."

"Alright Giulia," I agreed "Just...don't let this happen ever again."

"I won't Teresa," she looked me in the eyes "I promise."

Thus, a jealous look had culminated in an event that almost completely derailed my mission to win over Ippolita with Isabelle's approval, now I had to do all of that knowing that Giulia, my very own handmaiden, lusts over me - and she was beautiful too, rich a completely tan hourglass figure and nicely proportioned assets - I'd be lying if I said that my temporary paralysis was entirely down to shock, I know that there was a small part of me that wanted to be pinned against the wall, I know that a small part of me didn't mind Giulia kissing me one bit - the encounter was nonconsensual and I know that I should feel violated, I know that there shouldn't be a part of me that enjoyed that, but part of me does, and I had no idea what to do about that part of me - I just knew that either way, Giulia was nothing more than my handmaiden, I was courting Ippolita and I was still technically with Isabelle, I really couldn't deal with another woman in my life, I didn't even know how to handle these two, hence, I pulled myself back together after that bizarre encounter and continued on my way to Lucrezia's room, walking past Giulia as she awkwardly got herself dressed and wiped away her tears - it was better simply not to deal with Giulia's crush on me, I told her to stop and she knew she had to obey - after all, I was Marchioness of Torino and she was merely a handmaiden - speaking of which, as long as this never happened again I wouldn't remove Giulia from her post as my handmaiden, hopefully, that would be enough to resolve this particular issue.

I took a deep breath and walked away from Giulia's room, I was already locked in a love triangle and I certainly didn't deal with more - also, Giulia's approach was absolutely asinine, she borderline assaulted me in an attempt to seduce me when she had clearly seen that I was developing a relationship with Ippolita, the kiss we shared by The Colonna was far from subtle - though I suppose she may have thought it nothing more than an attempt to bed her, given that Giulia was around for my attempts to court Cristina - given that none of my relationship attempts since Isabelle had materialized quite yet, I could see how my recent actions could be misinterpreted, I mean, Giulia knew about my sexuality but she didn't know and Isabelle, she didn't know about my only serious relationship thus far, but even that didn't make her actions right. I understand that Giulia wanted me, I understand that she wanted to one-up Ippolita, but she didn't realize that this isn't even a competition - well, at least not an open competition - I was pursuing Ippolita, plain and simple, and at the same time, I was dealing with the shattered remains of my relationship with Isabelle, there was no room for my lustful handmaiden in that brewing storm, hopefully, the letter would make her understand that, hopefully, this was the end to the Giulia sage. Now, it was time to go to Lucrezia's room for the next hurdle in the Isabelle saga - unless while I'm walking through the hall suddenly Marie wants to seduce me...dammit Giulia, I don't need this in my life, not now, and not ever.

* * *

"Lucrezia?" I knocked on her door, it was unlocked but given what happened last time I opened a door in The Palazzo di Torino, I'd rather knock than risk any more surprises today.

"Come in Teresa!" Lucrezia yelled from inside, I opened the door and came in, seeing that Lucrezia was resting on her couch, I closed the door behind me and then I walked over and joined her, still holding the letter close to me. I was going to ask Lucrezia for her advice on the situation in general and then I would show her the letter to Isabelle - I was certainly grateful for Lucrezia, thus far she's always been the person I've come to over my romantic issues and she's always been there for me when I needed her, I would definitely want to try and return the favor, I had already made her a Lady of Torino, but that wasn't enough, certainly not, Lucrezia has been an absolute godsend every single time I needed her, without Lucrezia's advice, Isabelle and I may never have gotten together to begin with, without Lucrezia's advice, I perhaps never would've developed the courage to reveal my love for Isabelle, and, in addition to her life-changing advice, Lucrezia was also the one that introduced me to Ippolita to begin with - yes I would have meant her eventually given that she wanted to become a courtier, however, Lucrezia certainly expedited the process from my perspective - therefore, Lucrezia has directly or indirectly started both romantic relationships in my life. I wanted Lucrezia to be happy, I wanted her to find love, and I would definitely do everything I could to help her along on that process, however, right now, I needed Lucrezia's help and advice once again, I needed my best friend.

"Hello Lucrezia," I began "Listen, I need your advice."

"Here we go again," Lucrezia quipped, but she was just teasing in good fun, I knew that she was still going to help me through the latest drama in my life - however, I wasn't going to tell her about Giulia, there was no need to, that problem was already resolved and I had promised Giulia that I was going to keep her ham-fisted and forceful attempt at seduction a secret, and I intended to honor my promise, even though I was far from pleased with my handmaiden's behavior - instead, I was here to deal with the Isabelle and Ippolita situation.

"I like Ippolita, I really like her," I admitted, saying it out loud for the first time.

"I've noticed, Teresa," Lucrezia replied "You want to pursue her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," I faced Lucrezia "She's beautiful, she's smart, she's funny - I want to hold her close and entangle my fingers in her curly hair as we share a passionate kiss - I want her, badly."

"Alright Teresa," Lucrezia turned to face me as well, getting just as serious as I was "I know you want her, I know you're lusting after her, however, what about Isabelle? Have you told her about this?"

"I'm about to, I've written the letter already." I handed her the letter and allowed her to read it, Lucrezia had decided to address the elephant in the room first and foremost, while I was still trying to skirt past the issue for as long as I could - I knew that I needed to deal with Isabelle, I knew that if I didn't the results of all this could be ten times worse, however, that didn't necessarily mean that I could work up the courage to actually do it - in my mind, I was committed and steadfast, however, in reality, I wasn't, I was nonconfrontational and I was scared - I didn't want to risk ruining everything I had built with Isabelle if things with Ippolita don't quite pan out, part of me was hoping that Lucrezia would advise me to simply pursue Ippolita and nothing more, even though both of us knew that it wouldn't be right, before all that, I had to address Isabelle properly and I couldn't burn the bridge, I wanted to remain friends with Isabelle and I wanted to have the potential to rebuild our relationship if my attempts to court Ippolita fell apart and Isabelle somehow ended up within a realistic distance where our relationship would once again be feasible, so that's why the rest of me is grateful that Lucrezia is reading over my letter, I'm grateful that my best friend is here to help me out through all this drama, I'm grateful that Lucrezia is here to prevent me from ruining my own life. I wanted Ippolita, Isabelle was just too far away and it's been too long, our relationship has become far too strained, now I just needed the guidance to act accordingly.

"Is this how you truly feel, Teresa?" Lucrezia looked me in the eyes and asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"Then you have to send this letter," Lucrezia told me "Teresa, you're a Marchioness, you can administer an entire realm without a problem but when it comes to romance, you crumble, you just can't accept how your heart feels alone, this is the third time you've come to me about this and every time it's been the same answer: you already know what to do, but you just doubt yourself over and over again, you know what to do, you've mulled this over already and you've carefully written this letter, this is how you actually feel and you need to stop second guessing yourself, you need to send this letter as it is - Isabelle isn't a kid, she's as adult as you are, she can take the frankness of this letter, she can see your point, and, to be honest, at this point she probably feels the same way. I know you want Ippolita, you know you want Ippolita, now just tell Isabelle."

"But-" I attempted to interject.

"No buts Teresa, send the damn letter and win over Ippolita - you know she wants you too, I saw your kiss, this is real Teresa, don't letter yourself ruin it. go do what you need to do Teresa."

"Okay, okay," I took a deep breath, she was right, I wrote the letter raw, I wrote my emotions as best as I could while using our damned code, I wrote what I needed to write and I had to pursue Ippolita, I needed to do what I needed to do, I had to stop second guessing myself, I had to do what I felt I needed to do, I had to stop resisting my emotions, I wanted Ippolita, I was going to get Ippolita, that was it, I had loved Isabelle but the stress of time was too much, the distance between us was too much, I could no longer definitely say if I still loved Isabelle or not, certainly not as much as I did during our adventures together on the shores of Lake Geneva "You're right, you're right, thank you Lucrezia."

"You're welcome Teresa," she said as I hugged her, once again grateful for her help.

* * *

I left Lucrezia's room and went looking for Ippolita, at first I checked her room but she wasn't there, so I went to the main hall, making my way down the grand staircase and walking down the steps. As I made my way down I noticed that Captain Ludovico was just coming in, evidently having had finished his part of the patrol and handing off the job to one of his men for the next shift. The Condottiere turned Captain noticed me and immediately stood at attention, always obeying royal protocol, because as Marchioness, I was the de jure General of Torino's military, however, Captain Ludovico was in charge of The Palazzo and, by extension, us, he officially answered to Colonel Francesco Grimaldi, the de facto head of Torino's military, however, in reality, Captain Ludovico answered directly to me more often than not, in fact, I wanted to one day promote Ludovico to a higher post, however, Francesco opposed this and I wasn't able to defy his wishes so blatantly - Francesco is a relative of The Lord of Monaco, a feudal power in Liguria who supported us in our war against Genoa, conquering all of Liguria west of Genoa itself, meaning we had vast access to The Ligurian Sea and The Mediterranean beyond that through our ports at Nice, at Monaco, and at Albenga. The Lord of Monaco was essential to the war effort, and due to his aid, The House of Grimaldi has become one of our most influential noble families, not quite as powerful as The House of Paleologo-Monferrato, but much stronger than the average noble family.

"At ease Captain," I told Ludovico when I arrived at the bottom of the steps.

"Hello my Marchioness," he nodded, below his helmet I saw a jovial face with a short black beard.

"How are you?" I asked, making slight small talk, I know that I was looking for Ippolita and I know that I had to make arrangements to send this letter to Isabelle, however, I could spare a few moments to be polite to my local Captain, especially given that he and his men had, on their own initiative, decided to hide myself and Ippolita from sight when we shared our kiss near The Colonna di Torino. They were loyal men and they were seemingly tolerant - I suppose that they were practical men, they didn't see a reason to blackmail or gossip, they left such cutthroat politics for their superiors, they were only concerned with receiving orders and following them, with an occasional moment of going above and beyond the call of duty with the hope of receiving a modest payment in return - a very understandable perspective, and, given the nature of me and Ippolita's budding relationship, a very agreeable perspective. In any case, I was grateful for Captain Ludovico's actions, given all the drama in my life right now, I hardly needed the common masses gossiping about our kiss, and thanks to these soldiers, I didn't have to worry about that particular risk right now.

"I'm good, no complaints here, thank you," he replied, simply.

"Excellent." I replied "I wanted to thank you for your favor to myself and Lady Ippolita at The Colonna."

"Oh that," Ludovico smiled "That was nothing, it was clear what you two were going to do and it was clear what we should do in order to best serve you in that situation, no need to thank me, my Marchioness."

"Well Ludovico, I wish more people would see it as frankly as you did," I replied, now addressing him casually and by his name rather than by his rank, I saw no reason to maintain royal protocol in such a private conversation.

"To be frank, I wasn't expecting it, however, it's not my place to judge royalty." Ludovico gave me a truly honest answer.

"In any case, I appreciate it." I smiled.

"Don't worry about it," he chuckled "You're hardly the only royal with eccentricities."

I suppose Ludovico was right, there were numerous vicious rumors about each and every royal family in Europe - their enemies considered The House of Sforza bastards at best and liars who forged a bogus claim to The Duchy of Milan and used foreign aid to get what they wanted at worst, meanwhile, in Spain, The Borgia were victims to especially slanderous rumors that they were Jews who converted by force under The Spanish Inquisition, needless to say, The Borgia hadn't expected these rumors to gain traction and thus didn't bother trying to squash them until it was too late, and, while few were going quite so far as to question The Divine Right of the current Borgia rulers, this was still used to disparage and delegitimize the entire dynasty. In Austria, The House of Habsburg were victims to just as many rumors, being accused of marrying anyone and everything in sight with the hope of gaining power wherever possible - granted, this is pretty much what The Habsburgs have done in Hungary and in Ferrara - and then, once The Habsburgs had their power, they were so greedy and paranoid that they would do everything to keep power in their hands, even if that meant incestuous marriages - The Borgia have also been accused of incest - so I suppose that, even if rumors about my sexuality began circling Europe, they would hardly be the most vicious rumors about European royalty - and I think the rumors about The Habsburgs and The Borgia would be told much more given that Austria and Spain had many more enemies than we here in The Duchy of Savoy had - but in any case, I was glad that Captain Ludovico did his small part to prevent those rumors from beginning.

"Anyway," I changed the subject briefly to ask The Captain if he could help me with one of the two tasks currently preoccupying me "Ludovico, do you happen to have a messenger available?"

"Yes my Marchioness, I do," he replied, excellent, hopefully Captain Ludovico could make arrangements for my letter to arrive to Isabelle "Why do you ask?"

"Well Captain," I began "I need to send a letter to The Kingdom of Jerusalem."

"The Kingdom of Jerusalem?" Ludovico asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"Why?" he asked, he wasn't supposed to question royal commands and he normally didn't care, however, given how casual the situation was and given how seemingly strange the request was - I do admit if it wasn't for Isabelle I'd probably never end up sending a letter to The Kingdom of Jerusalem, it was simply too distant and too irrelevant in European politics for regular diplomacy to matter - while yes, at one point we had been hoping for Jerusalemite aid when we were desperate for an alliance with anyone who could help us against the encroachments of any of Europe's Great Powers, that alliance never materialized, and, even now when France and Provence, both ruled by the same dynasty that rules Jerusalem, are in our alliance, Jerusalem still sees the potential conflict in Romagna as too distant and too irrelevant for them to bother sending troops, especially since Jerusalem sending troops anywhere would leave them exposed to their incredibly hostile Islamic neighbors - The Ottomans and The Mamluks were hardly tolerant of The Catholic Kingdom we forged out of their lands and would not hesitate to attack if the opportunity ever presented itself. In any case, the point is that it wasn't exactly common to see European powers, especially countries seen as secondary powers like us here at The Duchy of Savoy to attempt diplomacy with The Kingdom of Jerusalem, and given that Captain Ludovico evidently didn't know about Isabelle's diplomatic visit to me on the shores of Lake Geneva two and a half years ago.

"A few years ago, Princess Isabelle York de Valois visited me on the shores of Lake Geneva at my family's estate, this was back when we were attempting to forge an alliance with The Kingdom of Jerusalem, anyway, during this diplomatic visit, we became very close to one another, as close as any two people could ever hope to be, anyway, once that diplomatic visit had ended, we started writing to each other, writing whenever we could and constantly maintaining as close a correspondence as we possibly could, and, given recent events, I feel that it's only right to tell her what's going on between myself and Ippolita as soon as possible, especially given that things between the two of us have been going very quickly." I explained to Captain Ludovico, given that he was a witness to Ippolita and I kissing each other, I felt that it was only fair to tell him the truth, however, that didn't mean I was going to give him any particular details, just a general overview, letting The Captain know everything that I felt he needed to know.

"All right," Ludovico said, having heard my explanation "I understand."

"Well, can you do it?" I asked.

"Well I can get my messenger to deliver the letter to Nice and make arrangements for it to be on the next ship heading to Jerusalem." Ludovico explained, thinking about what he can really accomplish as a mere Captain, however, I certainly trusted him for the task - given that this letter was quickly written as a result of my romance with Ippolita, I wasn't in sync with my usual messenger - and I was confident that this would be the best option, the safest option, for getting my letter to The Kingdom of Jerusalem, to Isabelle.

"That will do Captain Ludovico, thank you," I handed him the letter, which I had sealed before I left Lucrezia's room. I had resolved the issue with one of the two women in my life, and now it was time to deal with the other one.

* * *

After my short encounter with Captain Ludovico I was grateful that I had finally dealt with the issue of Isabelle - I would be patiently waiting for my Jerusalemite Princess' reply - and, on top of that, I had finally found Lady Ippolita in one of The Palazzo's lounges, seeing her sat on a couch zoned out, facing the windows on the opposite side of the room and watching the snow - though it was quite clear that her thoughts were somewhere else entirely, I smiled as I walked over and sat next to her, intent on bringing her back down to earth.

"Hello there," I whispered in Ippolita's ear, I grinned even more as she jumped in alarm, evidently so zoned out that she didn't even notice that I entered the room and sat down next to her.

"Oh," Ippolita composed herself "Hello Teresa, I didn't notice you...I was a little distracted."

"What by?" I asked, I had a hopeful guess about what it could be.

"By someone special," she smirked, she was playing coy but I had a feeling that my hopeful guess was correct.

"Oh is that right?" I asked "Who is this special someone?"

"Hmm," she feigned deep thought "Someone influential,"

"Influential?" I asked.

"Yes," she was looking in my direction but not quite at me "She holds a very high rank and she has an infectious personality."

"What's so infectious about it?" I smirked when I asked.

"She's very smart, she's funny, she's definitely persistent, and, on top of all that, she's quite beautiful."

"Well this person sounds lovely," I replied.

"Yes, you are," Ippolita was now looking at me dead in the eye, I broke our gaze briefly to make sure we were alone for our second kiss together, touching our lips together within The Palazzo di Torino as Captain Ludovico's messenger embarked on his journey to deliver Isabelle my letter. However, before I would receive any reply from my Jerusalemite Princess, a surprise visitor would arrive at The Palazzo di Torino and open up a whole new can of worms that Ippolita and I would have to overcome in the winter of 1558.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I want to try and post this all in one evening, but going through and formatting everything is rather exhausting, so tonight, I'm going to try and get to chapter ten, then I'm going to call it a night for today. I will, hopefully, post the rest tomorrow. I don't know if I should be apologizing after posting a whole ten chapters onto this site without any previous experience, but I understand what I promised and I know I'm not meeting that standard right now. I will get through chapter ten so that the first two acts are complete.


	9. The Duchess of Savoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter mentioned a surprise visitor, this chapter is centered on that.

Act II.

The Lady of Piemonte.

Chapter IX.

The Duchess of Savoy.

* * *

I wore a pink dress with dark red trim as Ippolita and I walked through the halls of The Palazzo di Torino - meanwhile, she wore a green dress with gold trim - we weren't exactly going anywhere, we were just enjoying each others' company, however, that seemed to be changing quickly as we entered the throne room, where I noticed that quite a few important locals were waiting for an audience - I hadn't planned on holding court today, I usually scheduled that on sundays a few hours after mass to maximize the number of people available - I wanted to humor as many people as I could in one session, however, given that quite a few people were expecting an unscheduled audience, I suppose I had to humor them - I wanted to be liked by the people I rule over and refusing some of the very important people of Torino at a time like this when I'm still trying to establish myself would certainly not help my reputation.

"I need to hold court," I reluctantly told Ippolita, to be honest, I'd rather spend time with her than handle this right now, but I knew that I had no choice, I had royal obligations to meet.

"I understand," Ippolita sighed but gave me an encouraging smile, she would at least get the chance to see me at work for the first time - which means that now I really did need to impress. The various visitors stood at attention while I climbed the steps - the throne was slightly elevated to draw attention to the person reigning, and next to it, stood the throne for the monarch's spouse, I wish I could seat Ippolita in it like I sat Isabelle next to me when I held court at Lake Geneva all those years ago, however, with Isabelle I had the excuse that she was a foreign Princess and a guest of honor and thus deserved to take that seat next to me, while, unfortunately, Ippolita was merely a pretender, and even then, far from the most legitimate pretender to the throne of The Duchy of Monferrato, and much more distant to the throne of The Byzantine Empire - and pretending to that throne doesn't mean much, The Turks may have been beaten by Europe's powers in the last Crusade, however, that didn't mean that they were weak, far from it - even to take back Jerusalem, that tentative alliance of France, England, Austria, and Spain was dependent on Venetian and Genoese ships to get them across The Mediterranean, on The Pope to manage bankrolling such an expensive war, and dependent on Hungary and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth attacking The Ottomans in Greece to divide their attention, essentially, that Crusade was dependent on cooperation which is unlikely to happen again any time soon with France, Spain, and Austria at each others throats in Italia while England eagerly waits to prey on the losers of that conflict.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Torino," I began "I, Teresa I di Savoia, Marchioness of Torino, will have you. Your Excellency, Archbishop Marco Bianchi, you have the floor first, speak your piece."

"My Marchioness," he began "I have received news from my colleague The Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, he has revealed that he has agreed to fight alongside Emperor Leopold IV should a war erupt over Romagna." This was troubling news, while The Prince Archbishop of Salzburg himself may not be overtly powerful, he is a very popular figure, and that popularity combined with his comparative youth may mean he might be promoted to a post in Mainz, Trier, or Cologne, and eventually becoming an elector of The Holy Roman Empire, this esteemed position means that he has powerful allies that he may be able to convince to join their cause - the addition of several powerful German princes may shift the balance of power towards Austria - right now, I would say our alliance is the strongest, both The Duchy of Savoy and The Duchy of Milan can manage to raise an army roughly as powerful as that of The Papal States, while France can match both Spain and Austria, while Naples can match Hungary, a war over Romagna would definitely be complicated, especially given that it is not a battle between two sides, rather it is a battle between three, Milan seeks to unify The Sforza rulers of Milano and of Imola and Forli under one banner while The Papal States seek to crush resistance in the region and The Habsburgs in Italia seek to expand from Ferrara and Modena to the rest of Romagna, France seeks to check Spanish and Austrian power, while Naples seeks to codify its independence from Spain and to forge allies to protect them should Spain attempt to retake the lost elements of The Crown of Aragon. I don't know when a war would break out, I don't know where the first battles will be fought, but I do know that any one of the alliances growing will greatly upset the balance of power and if any alliance grows overwhelming powerful, the declaration of war would be shift, I would have to hope that we would be the ones in that position, however, for now, I was left with this troubling news from The Archbishop of Torino.

"This is troubling news Father," I admitted "See that my mother learns about this."

"I shall my Marchioness," he bowed "That will be all."

"You are dismissed," I replied as the next guest came forward.

"My Marchioness," Colonel Grimaldi greeted, he was head of Torino's military and Ludovico's superior "I request a week's leave to Monaco, my niece is getting married soon to a Medici!" The Medici were a powerful Florentine banking family who were effectively the ruling dynasty of The Republic of Firenze with how often they are elected to the post of Gonfaloniere, some even say that The House de Medici envisioned creating a Grand Duchy of Tuscany out of their realms, likely through conquest of their neighbors in Siena and Lucca, which would leave The Florentine Medicis as the only significant powers left in Tuscany, anyway, given their power and that The House of Grimaldi's only significant title was The Lordship of Monaco, I had to assume that The Colonel's niece was being married off to a very minor member of The Florentine House, one far away from inheriting anything of note, still, it was something that The Grimaldis could be proud of, the Colonel would have his leave and he could enjoy his family's moment in the spotlight.

"Very well Colonel, your request is granted, enjoy the wedding," I smiled "Captain Ludovico shall assume command in your absence."

"Very well," I could tell that Grimaldi didn't necessarily like that I was giving Ludovico the position during his leave, but he wasn't going to complain about it, nor did I really care about this bad blood between them, so long as the two could remain civil "thank you my Marchioness,"

"You are dismissed," another guest dealt with, I was about to move onto the next guest when suddenly a messenger rushed into the room.

"My Marchioness, I bring urgent news!" he seemed panicked.

"Go ahead." I replied.

"Your father, Gianmaria d'Este has died, Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II is on her way here to personally invite you to the funeral." The messenger said, I sat stunned in my throne, I didn't even know my father was sick or anything, I had no idea anything like this would happen, however, it did, and my mother was coming here - it seems The Archbishop won't have to work hard to get his news to my mother after all - to invite me to the funeral, however, given that she was coming here, I had to assume that there was more to it...but what? Perhaps my mother has finally found a marriage candidate that she will try to thrust upon me, perhaps she has heard rumors of my sexuality, or perhaps, this could be the most frightening possibility of them all, perhaps my mother has been stricken with grief over my father's death and intends to abdicate - I've done a good job governing Torino thus far, however, I didn't think I was ready for an entire Duchy - Savoy was a large realm and we are at the brink of war - I didn't know why my mother was coming here, but I knew that it was more than just about the funeral, no, this is much more, and it's time to start worrying over the possibilities.

* * *

I stood in the doorway of The Palazzo di Torino as my mother's carriage had arrived, the entire palace garrison stood at attention in two columns on either side of the path between the entrance and the carriage, it was only proper for my mother to be introduced by an impressive display of guard here in Torino - obviously Captain Ludovico guarded The Palazzo di Torino with more than just the handful of men he took with him to protect our party during our tour of the city - first of all there's no need for all the palace guards to follow us on our way around the city, second of all, there was no reason to keep The Palazzo undefended just because I wasn't there - there were still plenty of courtiers there and not to mention a considerable amount of coin and valuable possessions that looters would want to steal - essentially, there just wasn't any reason to use all The Palazzo's guards on a mere tour of the city, however, the arrival of The Duchess of Savoy, the supreme monarch of our entire realm, was a different matter, that deserved all the guards not just as a show of respect but for her own security - as I've said, Savoy does have some rather powerful enemies at the moment.

The first person I saw leaving the carriage wasn't my mother, however, instead, it was my ten year old younger brother, Pietro di Savoia, he ran over to me from the carriage, seemingly not caring about the guards around him, he was running over to me - I kneeled down so I would be at his level when he arrived, rightfully so as when he reached me he threw his arms around me with a hug - I reciprocated his hug, feeling his tears on my shoulder. Pietro was young and he has always been close to our father, so this is clearly hitting him harder than it's hitting me - I was fairly close to Gianmaria as well, however, I was more mature now and I knew that this event would happen sooner or later - granted I didn't want it to happen, I loved my father and I love my mother, however, I know that life is hardly a permanent thing - even for royalty, life can be brutally short, if Pietro had gotten sick as a child, there's a high chance that he never would've made it to be this age - we could pray and we could try our luck with doctors, however, for all their elixirs and all their leeches, doctors didn't manage to save very many people after all - luckily, Pietro never got sick and obviously neither have I, but that doesn't change the fact that, even for royalty, infancy is by no means something that everyone survives, because life is not permanent, and unfortunately, my father already died and I knew that eventually, my mother was going to die too, and with that I would ascend to the throne of The Duchy of Savoy, whether I was prepared for it or not.

"Hello Pietro," I ended the hug with him and held his shoulders, trying to comfort him as best as I could - I was his big sister after all - but my soft greeting and my gentle smile wasn't nearly enough, the tears kept coming and before I could do anything else, I heard a crier blowing into his horn to get everyone's attention so that he could begin. I rose back up to my feet and pulled Pietro closer to me, keeping my hands on his shoulders as a way of comforting him and a a way to keep him in a place where I would keep track of him - there was no reason for a little child to be allowed to run freely anywhere near men armed with deadly sharp pikes and swords - so I simply held my little brother close while the crier properly introduced my mother to us, as was royal protocol - which again I didn't find strictly necessary but I understand why such introductions were necessary, after all, not everyone could actually recognize who The Duchess of Savoy was, because she could hardly be everywhere at once.

"Introducing Her Most Holy Majesty, Giovanna Vittoria II di Savoia, Duchess of Savoy, Duchess of Monferrato, Princess of Piemonte, Countess of Nice, Countess of Vaud, Countess of Valais, Countess of Liguria, Matriarch of The House di Savoia, Liege and Protector of The Lordship of Monaco, Patroness of The Arts, and rightful Duchess-Consort to Ferrara and Modena." The crier gave out my mother's various titles, including rightful Duchess-Consort of Ferrara and Modena, that title is there because, given the tensions over our lost throne and over Romagna in general, we have not legitimized Habsburg claims to the lands formerly held by The House d'Este and continue to be pretenders to The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena - as far as we're concerned, now that my father Gianmaria The Pious was dead, I was The Duchess of Ferrara and The Duchess of Modena - perhaps my mother is merely here to remind me about that and reveal her plans to seize those two Duchies from The Habsburgs if our alliance was to win the war over Romagna - however, I still wasn't sure, all I knew is that, given that my mother came here in person rather than just simply asking the messenger who just told me about her arrival to invite me to the funeral, she wanted to talk to me about something more, my mother was up to something else entirely, the funeral, as unfortunate as it is, is not her reason for being here, she was definitely up to something, and I knew that I was going to find out precisely what that something is sooner rather than later.

"Hello mother," I bowed my head and greeted her once she came over to me.

"Hello Teresa," she ushered Pietro out of the way and gave me a hug "Come inside, there is much to discuss."

We entered The Palazzo swiftly - it was still a cold winter after all - Marie took Pietro to one of the guest rooms while I obediently followed - I may have been Marchioness of Torino, but this was her palace and she knew it, I merely administered over Torino from The Palazzo di Torino, meanwhile, my mother rules over the entire Duchy of Savoy - including Torino - from The Chateau de Chambery in Savoie itself - The French county from which our whole dynasty and our whole Duchy takes its name, even if we have largely abandoned our French roots in favor of Italian ones - we had Italian names, we learned The Piedmontese dialect of Italian before any other language, and we even went so far as to refer to our whole dynasty as The House di Savoia rather than our French name, The House de Savoie - we had become Italian, and even now with French allies I felt that sooner than later, we needed to move our capital here to Torino for the sake of security and centralization - Savoy was north of The Alps and bordered only our Swiss cantons, while the rest of our territory was to the south, across The Alps - while yes, we do claim The Alps between our holdings, realistically, they divided us in half more than anything. I knew that Chambery is central to our history as a family and as a Duchy, however, in the present, it simply makes more sense to rule from Torino - and of course it certainly doesn't hurt that Ippolita holds land in Torino and lives at The Palazzo di Torino pretty much full time.

Ippolita and I were very close at this stage, however, I was hesitant on making any big steps, I still haven't gotten a reply from Isabelle and I didn't want to pursue anything too much in case Isabelle said no - I didn't want to have to break a heart, however, if Isabelle told me to end things with Ippolita and I didn't, then her heart would definitely broken, and I didn't want to get too close to Ippolita in case I had to break her heart - I was on thin ice right now, I was dangerously close to potentially breaking two hearts and ending up with neither of them, right now, I wanted to be with Ippolita because it's just too much of a logistical difficulty to be with Isabelle, she's simply too far away and the distance is just too much of a strain, Ippolita was the realistic option at this point and I could definitely tell that Ippolita was into me as well, everything about this scenario seemed perfect, however, there were two major problems with my budding relationship with The Italo-Grecian beauty, one: Isabelle and I were still in this state of limbo where we were technically still in a relationship together, even if we haven't seen each other in person since her diplomatic visit to Lake Geneva in the summer of 1555, and two: yet again, it was a lesbian relationship where any moment everything we built together could be torn apart by The Clergy or by blackmailers or even by my mother - she said that there was much to discuss, which means that I was right, there is more to this than merely an invitation to my father's funeral, and there is certainly a chance that my mother could've somehow caught wind of the rumors of my sexuality and came here with the express purpose of putting an end to all this, or perhaps it's something else entirely, I didn't know, but I was certainly itching to find out as my mother and I entered one of The Palazzo di Torino's lounges and she locked the door behind us - this would be a private meeting.

"Teresa," my mother began "unfortunately, your father has left this Earth, this puts us in a difficult position and it means that I have to accelerate my plans faster than I had hoped. First of all, this leaves you as the most legitimate claimant to The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena, when the time comes and war is declared, I want you to make sure you end up with control of your rightful throne, no matter if I'm still around or not."

"I understand," I knew that this was just the beginning of my mother's speech, I guess now that her husband died, my mother realized that her time isn't that far off either, she only has so many years left to fulfil her ambitions and leave The Duchy of Savoy in a state worthy of all the effort and all the planning she put into her rule, thus, she is beginning her checklist - given that we don't really know when war will erupt in Romagna, my mother is well aware that she may die before the war begins, let alone when it ends, so I may be the one at the negotiating table, thus my mother left me with the task of recovery the territories that rightfully belonged to my father, Gianmaria The Pious d'Este.

"As for the next order of business," my mother transitioned to her next point "I would like to congratulate you on your administration of Torino thus far, you've done well and you are well on your way to being ready for the inevitable task of ruling the entire Duchy."

"Thank you mother," I replied, not quite sure whether or not I truly agreed with her statement, I didn't know if I was anywhere near ready to rule The Duchy of Savoy and I didn't want to find out the hard way.

"Now, given that your destined to be Duchess of Savoy, Duchess of Monferrato, Duchess of Ferrara, and Duchess of Modena, it's time to begin talking about the matter of who will be your Duke," my eyes opened wide and I panicked internally, this was exactly what I had feared, my mother was here to engineer a marriage for me, most definitely a political arrangement where I would have no say over who I married or when - it would be solely over power, nothing more and nothing less, and at this point, I wasn't sure if I could do anything to stop it, I would have to marry a man that I simply could not love and I would forever be kept apart from both Isabelle and Ippolita, I would be left to suffer without either of the women in my life...and there was nothing that I could do about it, I would have to marry whoever my mother told me to marry, didn't I? I don't think I have any way of resisting this.

"Now, I know what you're thinking - that I already arranged a marriage and didn't give you any say, but that's not the case - instead, I negotiated with a potential candidate and agreed to his terms - the children will belong to The House di Savoia and in exchange he shall get a substantial dowry, he has also agreed to these terms, we're ready to start organizing a marriage, but, as my only daughter, I ask you this Teresa - do you agree to marrying Nerio Tocchi, the eighteen year old cousin of The Duke of Corfu, a Lombard family loyal to The Venetians ruling over The Ionian Islands in Greece?" My mother had found someone willing to marry me, an Italian whose family rules over part of Greece - someone who is effectively the inverse of my Ippolita - but she was giving me a choice, surely that meant that I could refuse this, right? I had to try at very least.

"Mother," I sighed, I could only see one way out of this and that was the truth "I refuse."

"Why?" she asked, not necessarily angry but clearly not pleased either.

"I need to tell you something," I just didn't know how to reveal such a thing to my own mother, I knew that she may not take this well, I knew that there was a very high chance that my mother would be angry, I knew that there was a very high chance that my mother wasn't going to tolerate this, but I had no choice, I had to figure out how to tell her this, it was the only way out of this loveless marriage my mother wanted to put me in.

"Spit it out Teresa, I'm your mother, you can trust me," my mother said calmly with a gentle and caring voice - for the very first time in my life I heard a motherly voice from my royal mother who always seemed so distant in my childhood due to all her royal obligations, for the first time I truly felt like I could trust my mother with my deepest and darkest secret, I finally felt that I could actually tell my mother about my sexuality, I could come out of the closet to her, no matter what the end result would be, I could feel that I could finally tell her.

"Mom," I started off on a more casual note than I had before but I still didn't have the courage to look her in the eyes while I said this, instead, I stared at the floor and spoke as clearly and as loudly as I could muster right now - which wasn't much more than a whisper at the moment but she would hear every word of it, she would have to, because this is perhaps the most serious thing I've ever told my mother and ever will tell my mother, so, while staring straight down at the floor, I revealed my sexuality as plainly as I could "I don't like men, they don't interest me at all, I have absolutely no desire to marry a man, I never have and I never will, and I know that because I've already reached my sexual maturity, I already know what I like and what I don't like and I've known for over two years right now - mom, I don't like men, I like women. I'm a lesbian mom."

"Look at me Teresa," my mother said calmly after a long pause, I took a deep breath and brought my eyes to hers, full of fear and anticipation, I had no idea what was going to happen next.

"Is this truly how you feel?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, she took a deep sigh.

"Very well Teresa, listen closely," she began "The public will hear that you refused to marry anyway because you wanted to secure absolute power on your own, you will name Pietro as your heir, and if you outlive him, then you shall name his child as your heir, however, if you outlive him and Pietro fails to produce a heir, then I don't care about your sexuality, it is your responsibility to ensure the continuation of the main line of The House di Savoia, I had to fight hard to ensure that I became Duchess when my brothers died, I had to fight hard to convince Gianmaria to allow his children to belong to The House di Savoia, and you know how traditionalist he was, God rest his soul, I had to fight to ensure that you would be my successor rather than Pietro, I hope you appreciate that Teresa, because I will allow you to pursue this preference of yours in secrecy so long as the main line of The House di Savoia survives past your generation - understand?"

"I understand, thank you mother," I gave her a hug, her terms were firm but fair, I would be allowed to pursue Ippolita - or my preference as she put it, apparently my mother didn't think much about my sexuality, however, I was just grateful that she was allowing me to remain unmarried - so long as my brother would pursue a heir - my mother was primarily concerned with the survival of the main line of The House di Savoia, I wasn't sure about the details but it seems that some kind of feud exists between my mother and our cousins, she seems to want them as far away from the throne as she possibly could, but whatever, I agreed to her terms and I was certain that Pietro would be able to produce a heir when he gets older, meaning that I had my mother's blessing to remain unmarried for the rest of my life, and for that, I was eternally grateful.

"You're welcome Teresa," she replied "The funeral will be held in the first week of spring, I will send a messenger when it is time for you to depart for Chambery, in the mean time, I shall remain here for a few days to observe your progress as Marchioness of Torino more directly."

"Very well mother," I replied, and thus, my mother, The Duchess of Savoy, was now my guest and the marriage situation was resolved, I had survived with my sexuality and my dignity safe from any threats of a loveless political marriage, I was safe to pursue Ippolita, now I just needed an answer from Isabelle, my Jerusalemite Princess, as to whether or not I could do so.

* * *

"So The Salzburgians have allied with The Austrians?" my mother asked as we held an impromptu staff meeting - my mother and I were here, Archbishop Bianchi was here, Captain Ludovico was here in place of Colonel Grimaldi, and several Piedmontese Counts and Barons were here - they were technically my equals as Torino was just one of the territories within The Principality of Piemonte which in itself is just part of The Duchy of Savoy, however, Torino was the largest and most prestigious territory within The Principality of Piedmont, and obviously I was the heiress to The Duchy of Savoy, therefore, while we were legally equal, the local vassals knew that I was their superior - but I was not in charge of the rest of the vassals in The Principality of Piedmont, my only subjects were The Lords and Ladies of Torino, people like Lucrezia and Ippolita held territory within The Marquisate of Torino and were therefore my vassals - so from my perspective, the chain of command in this part of The Duchy of Savoy went as follows:

The Duchy of Savoy - ruled by my mother, Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II of Savoy.

The Principality of Piedmont, also ruled by my mother, under the title of Princess Giovanna Vittoria II of Piedmont.

The Marchioness of Torino, ruled by myself as Marchioness Teresa I of Torino, as well as the other subjects of The Principality.

The subjects of the above, in my case, Lucrezia and Ippolita amongst others.

The Duchy of Savoy, much like the rest of Europe, was slowly but surely becoming more and more powerful and local landholders such as Barons, Counts, and Lords were becoming less and less relevant, however, this process was nowhere near complete and for now, feudalism was still prevalent, while vassals no longer waged war independently of their liege like they did in The Middle Ages, they still held vast internal powers and could even have hold power outside of their country of origin, however, the individual power of these landholders was increasingly irrelevant, to the point where in larger states, individual Barons or Counts were seldom notable alone, because there were so many holders of minor titles that it simply became easier to refer to them as a collective nobility, and it would take a considerable amount of nobility to produce any meaningful change within that particular state, however, in order to utilize these vast amounts of greedy and self-obsessed nobles, many states made generals and advisors out of their nobility - The Duchy of Savoy was no exception, The Piedmontese Counts and Barons attending this meeting were notable enough through their military, administrative, or diplomatic performance that my mother considers them important enough to attend such a meeting and hear about the events I heard about while holding court and more - right now, we were discussing the subject of the popular and influential Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg promising to join forces with The Habsburgs should a war erupt over Romagna and the consequences of such an event.

"Indeed my Duchess," Archbishop Bianchi began "I don't know why, I just know that he publicly announced his intention to join The Habsburg alliance - I apologize but I simply do not know his reasons,"

"Well has he formally joined the alliance?" my mother asked The Archbishop.

"I don't believe so," he replied.

"Well then, I will make arrangements to send diplomats and a generous gift to Salzburg, perhaps our ambassadors can convince him to do otherwise - we certainly don't need our future enemies to grow any stronger, especially if they gain allies who are likely to draw yet more allies - I'm very serious when I say this gentlemen, The Prince Archbishop of Salzburg has many friends, with him he can bring some of the strongest states of The Holy Roman Empire into The Habsburg alliance, and at that point, not even the full might of our French and Neapolitan allies will be able to stop The Austrians." my mother spoke gravely and seriously, she knew that this develop could escalate to the point where the war was all but won by The Habsburg forces - France is powerful, however, a war like this is going to stress even France, as they need to fight on multiple front due to The Spanish heartland directly to the south and Spain's shares of Burgundy to the east and to the north of France, all in addition to the troops France will need to send to capture Sardinia and Corsica as well as the troops going to the main battlefield in Romagna - to a lesser extent, we would also be fighting a multi-front war as we are to the west of Spanish Burgundy and, when this war inevitably erupts, we would also be sending troops to Sardinia and Corsica as well as Romagna.

"My Duchess," a local Count - Ermenegildo Crispo, Count of Cuneo and a distant relative to The Duke of The Archipelago, a vassal of Venice who rules over a series of Grecian islands centered around Naxos - eventually interjected "How about The Papacy, His Holiness Guglielmus I is old, perhaps when his sole leaves this Earth The College of Cardinals may choose a new Pontiff who may spoil relations with The Spaniards."

"Perhaps Count Ermenegildo," my mother replied "However, I wouldn't count on it, The Pontiff greatly values Romagna and he is well aware that he needs Spanish assistance in order to keep control of it."

And thus, the meeting continued, no easy answer was presenting itself when it comes to Romagna and tensions were building higher and higher, however, no one wanted to declare war until it seemed that they had a certain victory ahead of them, Milano wanted to rule Romagna but they didn't want to leave their Duchy in ruins in order to achieve said goal, and the same can be said about The Ferrarese Habsburgs or The Papal States - essentially, everyone wanted a slice of Italian land, however, no one wanted to face the consequences of taking said land - thus, all three alliances were at an impasse, waiting for an opportunity to present itself so that they could strike, whether it be allying with an outside power like Austria did with Salzburg or waiting for external issues to plague one of the alliances - such as Spain having to deal with a widespread Dutch uprising in their northern Burgundian territory or Hungarian nobility rejecting their submission to their Austrian neighbors - though that's not to say our alliance was immune to any potential spanner in the works type of scenario, I wouldn't consider it even remotely surprising if France and England found a reason to declare war upon each other any time soon. In any case, eventually this meeting was over and I finally had a chance to break out of my mother's grip, and needless to say, I immediately took the opportunity to see Ippolita.

* * *

"Hello Ippolita," I said as I grabbed her hand when I eventually found her in the halls of The Palazzo di Torino.

"Why hello there Teresa," she replied, clearly pleased "How have things gone with your mother?"

"Well...I don't have to marry anyone," I smiled, grateful that I was free to pursue women, however, I was still supposed to be waiting for Isabelle to tell me whether or not I was allowed to pursue Ippolita, however, I don't know if I can resistant any longer - I already convinced myself that the damage distance has done on my relationship with Isabelle is irreparable, and I don't even know if I really loved her to begin with - don't get me wrong, Isabelle is beautiful, smart, and an incredible friend, but I'm not sure if we ever would've lasted as a real couple, everything was far too rushed, far too spur of the moment, honestly, looking back on it, that relationship felt more like a fling than a properly developed relationship. I knew that what I was about to do was wrong, I knew that what I was about to do could very well be an immense betrayal of Isabelle, but how could something so wrong feel so right? I knew that it's the wrong thing to do overall, but I also knew that it's the right thing to do for me - I guess I'm weak, I guess I'm selfish, and I guess that I'm a traitor, but none of that was going to deter me, I had finally managed to come out to my mother and I got the perfect result, and there was only one way to celebrate this.

"No marriages?" Ippolita asked incredulously.

"None," I replied.

"Teresa...that's amazing!" my Italo-Grecian Empress exclaimed.

"I know it's amazing," I smiled even more as we neared the entrance to my room "And I can only think about one way to celebrate this new development."

"Oh is that right?" Ippolita asked as we stopped just outside of my door and faced each other in the eyes, we both wanted to kiss here and now but we were well aware that the hallway was a little bit too public, I had to tear my eyes away from her to stop myself long enough to open the door so that the two of us could rush into my room. Ippolita sat down on my bed and leaned backwards, slipping off her jacket as I locked the door, exposing her bare arms and her dress's tantalizingly low neckline. The door was shut and locked behind my as I made my way over to her, slipping off my own jacket as well and leaving myself in a similar state. I reached the bed and pushed Ippolita down on the bed, coming over her and giving her a passionate kiss, the beginning of a long night of love and passion, the beginning of a long night of something Ippolita has never done and something that I had only done once before with Isabelle - and all of this was being done without Isabelle's approval, all of this was making me a cheater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drama is developing.


	10. Isabelle and Ippolita

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we have reached the end of act two!

Act II.

The Lady of Piemonte.

Chapter X.

Isabelle and Ippolita.

* * *

I felt guilty the next day - what Ippolita and I did together felt great, it was great, it was an absolutely electrifying expression of lust...perhaps even love - however, in order to do that I betrayed Isabelle's trust, I betrayed my Jerusalemite Princess with desperate justifications of fading love and permanent distance, no matter what excuses I gave, I knew that I had already defied my first love, I couldn't control myself, I couldn't bring myself to stop and think, I had to act on my base impulses rather than just waiting for Isabelle's letter and acting accordingly - doing what I promised myself - I went and defied all of that for my own personal greed - and given that I've done that to the most important person in my life, how could I ever be expected to be The Duchess of Savoy? How could I govern a relatively large and powerful state when I couldn't even stay true to a promise to my very own lover? I had done wrong, I've betrayed my first love, and now, I don't even have the courage to tell either Isabelle or Ippolita about my betrayal, all I had the courage to do is to sulk and hate myself. I was a weak person, unfit to be a lover and unfit to be a Duchess, it was clear to me now that I didn't deserve Ippolita or Isabelle, in fact, I didn't even deserve someone like Giulia, because I lacked integrity or self-control, I lacked virtue and committed sin after sin, I deserved nobody.

I sulked alone in one of The Palazzo's lounges - I had woken up before Ippolita and then I got dressed and left the room, not waking up my new lover - and I reflected on my actions: not only did I betray Isabelle's trust, but I had desecrated my father's memory as well - I had just found out my father died and I had just been invited to his funeral, yet I spent next to no time mourning, instead, I decided to almost immediately engage in homosexual sex - which I doubt my father would approve of, I mean he has earned the moniker Gianmaria The Pious for a reason. I was not a good person and during all of that, I didn't even have the courtesy to tell Ippolita about what happened with Giulia - granted, that wasn't something I had wanted, it was certainly not consensual, then again, adding to my deeply flawed and perverted nature, I still can't say that I didn't like it. I suppose that my perverted streak originated long before I was even aware of my own sexuality, because for years now I've had my handmaidens, Lucrezia and Giulia in particular, bathe me - granted I did wash my more intimate areas myself, but still, years of spending every evening being naked with another woman's hands all over me certainly doesn't scream of prudish heterosexuality, and even after the Giulia incident I continued to allow her to bathe me - however, I have been a bit more on edge since then, but still, this is not how someone should react to an event like that - I freely admit that if it was a man doing what Giulia did I'd have him tortured and executed in the most brutal fashion possible - I was ashamed of myself, I hated what I did, and I wish that I could definitively say I wouldn't do it again - I wish I was a stronger person, I wish I had more integrity, I was that I could be true to the people I loved, but I know I can't.

I dropped my head to my hands and let the tears flow, openly sobbing and not really giving a damn whether or not anyone sees my crying - they'll just assume I'm depressed over my father's death - I can't even say I really am, despite the fact that my father and I had been relatively close at a young age, I didn't seem o care nearly as much as I should...I really am an awful person. I continued to sob and cry as I heard footsteps, someone was entering the lounge but I didn't care, however, that changed as I felt that person sit down on the couch next to me and rested her hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I rose my head from my hands and turned to see who it was, and I saw that it was Lady Cristina.

"Teresa, what's wrong?" my courtier and friend asked, I knew that I could talk to her about this - I didn't want to face Lucrezia about this, not yet at least, because I know that she'll be disappointed in what a mess I've made of my life - Lucrezia first and foremost wants me to be strong and to be happy, yet here I caved into my base impulses and began a series of events that could lead to me ending up breaking both Isabelle's heart and Ippolita's, ending up forever alone, having pushed away two beautiful women who clearly wanted me as much as I wanted them, simply because I couldn't stop and think, I couldn't manage to be slightly patient and at very least wait for Isabelle's response - which still hasn't arrived - but I couldn't even do that much, let alone properly act on Isabelle's instructions, though at least then I'd know where she stands on all of this.

"Cristina...I made a huge mistake," I sobbed.

"Oh God," Cristina exclaimed "What did you do?"

"I slept with Ippolita," I admitted, trying to wipe away the tears faster than they could flow, with little success.

"How is that a mistake?" Cristina asked "She's beautiful Teresa and you two love-birds have been attached at the hip ever since she arrived."

"Lovebirds?" I asked, I knew that I was changing the subject but I needed to hear what Cristina's on about.

"Oh come on Teresa, it's blatantly clear that you two are in love." Cristina explained, treating it as obviously and matter-of-factly as the weather, perhaps she was right, perhaps once again I've rushed into love without properly thinking it over, though granted I've spent a little bit more time with Ippolita than I had spent with Isabelle thus far, but still, I was hardly sure if this is how love is supposed to go...is it always so rushed? I suppose it can be, I mean, love is hardly predictable, love doesn't need to make sense, there doesn't need to be a reason for love, because we're all humans, and as every human demonstrates on a daily basis, we're stupid and irrational beings, very imperfect and far from ideal.

"But what about Isabelle?" I asked, I had told Cristina about my brief romance with Isabelle, however, not in too much detail, but enough that she surely understands just how important that first relationship was for me.

"What about her?" Cristina asked "You two haven't seen each other in years!"

"What are you two talking about?" I turned over my shoulder to see that Lucrezia entered the room - it seems I had to confront her about this after all - she came over and sat down on the chair to my left while Cristina continued to sit on the couch to my right, leaving me in the middle of my two best friends, my two best friends who could hopefully help me, however, it's equally likely that both of them will end up ashamed of my actions and both of them will be angry at me - perhaps in addition to possibly losing two women, I could also lose two friends from this debacle.

"I slept with Ippolita," I admitted to Lucrezia, she already knew all about the context of this relationship, after all, I asked her for advice on this whole situation not too long ago when she convinced me to send the letter.

"You what?" Lucrezia exclaimed "You were supposed to wait for Isabelle's reply! That whole letter you wrote, what's the point of it if you're not even going to do what you promised to do?" Every word that she said was entirely valid, I couldn't argue against it at all, my best friend and my confidant was officially my subject but that wasn't going to stop her from being one-hundred percent honest with me and would not hesitate with being harsh to me, perhaps harsher than I could even expect her to be, because she knew me incredibly well and she knew my mind as well as I did, perhaps even better than I did, because what's she's saying right now is exactly the same as the guilty thoughts I've been having all morning.

"So what if she was supposed to?" Cristina interjected, apparently arguing on my behalf "Isabelle's gone, she's back in The Kingdom of Jerusalem and she's probably never coming back, Ippolita is here right now, she's smart, she's beautiful, and it's clear as day that the two of them are in love, you've seen them together, you saw their kiss at The Colonna, there's love there and there is no reason why a woman all the day across The Mediterranean Sea should prevent The Marchioness of Torino from loving whoever the hell she wants."

"You weren't there at Lake Geneva," Lucrezia countered.

"So? That doesn't change the fact that I know Teresa, she tried to bed me once too, she hasn't had someone since Isabelle left and she's absolutely desperate for a woman's company, and she finds that in Ippolita, so what if it's ending one relationship? It's not like she married Isabelle." Cristina counterattacked, I had to listen to both of their points, Cristina is essentially arguing for my happiness here and now while Lucrezia is arguing for me to be true to myself, in a way, it was an argument between happiness and integrity, and I had to decided which one of these two was more important to me. I watched Lucrezia and Cristina go back-and-forth, hoping that one of them would convince me one way or another.

"Yes she's desperate for a woman but that doesn't change the fact that she promised Isabelle that she would wait for her word before doing anything too serious with Ippolita." Lucrezia argued, both of my friends were incredibly passionate and stubborn people, and both wanted to ensure what would be the best for me, even if that meant that the two of them were at odds, much like how they are now.

"A promise is just a promise, it's clear that she made a decision to go with Ippolita instead and she's already acted upon that decision - I don't even see why this is an argument, Teresa already made her voice." Cristina replied, now standing and getting louder, she was an impassioned Italian woman and she'd have this argument won if it wasn't for the fact that her opponent is another impassioned Italian woman, who now also stood up and gave her own retort.

"You're questioning the value of a promise to someone you love? You're questioning the very foundation of Christian marriage!" Lucrezia moved the goal post, this wasn't an argument over myself and Ippolita, now this was just an argument between Cristina and Lucrezia which just happened to originate over my actions and the two most important women in my life.

"You're changing the subject Lucrezia, the point is Teresa should be with Ippolita." Cristina wasn't going to fall for Lucrezia's argument tactics, she was bringing things right back to the point and it remains to be seen whether or not Lucrezia could come back from this.

"I'm not saying that she shouldn't be with Ippolita, I'm just telling her that she should have waited for Isabelle's word on how to proceed, like she promised." Lucrezia clarified her point.

"Well it's a little late now for that, isn't it?" Cristina replied and she had a point, I was already with Ippolita, it's clear to people outside of our relationship that we're in love, and it's already too late to go back and change what happened, even if I completely severed ties with Ippolita it wouldn't change the fact that there was a time and a place in the winter of 1558 where I betrayed Isabelle's trust and cheated on her.

"What are you yelling about?" we all turned to see Ippolita entering the room, carrying a sealed letter. Cristina moved over to allow her to sit down next to me, however neither she nor Lucrezia answered her, neither of my friends wanted to air my dirty laundry to my current lover.

"They're arguing about you," I decided to be honest with her now, given all that I've done to the people closest to me as of late the least that I could do at this point is to be honest.

"About me?" she asked.

"Yes, and whether or not we're doing the right thing together." I replied.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Ippolita didn't seem to care that I told Lucrezia and Cristina about what happened, instead, she was more worried about why they were even arguing about this to begin with.

"Well, if that letter is what I think it is, you're about to find out." I answered and she promptly handed me the letter, and, as I expected, it was from The Kingdom of Jerusalem, this was Isabelle's reply and we would all read it together, Ippolita had a right to know and my friends had a right to know as well. Ippolita scooted closer to me, Lucrezia came over and sat down on the armrest while Cristina got up and came around leaning down from behind the couch so that she could get a better view - I may have already acted without Isabelle's word, but here it was right in front of me.

_My dearest Teresa di Savoia, Marchioness of Torino,_

_The distance between us has been difficult for me too, everyday I wake up lonely, every day I long for a close friend again, every day, I spend every waking moment wishing that you were here by my side. I miss you Teresa, I really do miss you, you were my closest friend for our brief time together along the shores of Lake Geneva all those years ago. However, you're right, our friendship was all those years ago and this correspondence isn't enough for you, or for me, you were always first and will always have been, the same is true for you, however, I would be a fool to think that it wasn't a thing of the past, quite frankly, the distance between us is just too much for a real friendship. All that being said, if you want to be friends with this Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato instead, do whatever makes you happy Teresa, I understand._

I took a sigh of relief, Isabelle gave me permission to be with Ippolita - now, this didn't mean that what I did with Ippolita last night is retroactively justifiable, but it meant that from here on out I could pursue Ippolita with a clear conscience. I sat up and waited for my Italo-Grecian beauty to finish up reading that first paragraph, she was smart enough that she could piece together the details - in that Isabelle and I had a brief romance a few years ago on the shores of Lake Geneva and, during that time together, we took each others' virginity. additionally, Ippolita could see quite clearly that I had told Isabelle about our budding relationship before she could finally see that Isabelle gave us her blessing.

"Who is Isabelle?" Ippolita asked me.

"Isabelle York de Valois, The Princess of Jerusalem." I replied.

"You two were together?" Ippolita clearly wanted confirmation and context, I would oblige.

"Yes, we fell in love when she was on a diplomatic visit in the summer of 1555." I answered truly and honestly.

"Teresa," Ippolita was dead serious and she looked in straight in the eyes "Am I just a rebound?"

"No," I replied immediately, I can't believe that my actions even made Ippolita think that, I really did screw up things here, I should have told Ippolita about my relationship with Isabelle from the get go and I should have told Isabelle that I was going to pursue Ippolita from the beginning - however, it's easy to say that now that Isabelle approved of this - in any case, I had to be strong and honest, I had to tell Ippolita the only thing that could make up for all this drama that caused, and thankfully, Cristina helped me realize what I needed to say in order to fix this "Ippolita I haven't felt like this in years, I tried starting brief flings with pretty much every female courtier at The Palazzo di Torino, Cristina can vouch for that, but the only person I've felt as passionately about as you is Isabelle all those years ago, and even then, you've made me rethink about everything I had with her, Ippolita...I love you."

"I love you too Teresa, thank you," Ippolita whispered, grateful for what I told her, and I was grateful for her reply. In any case, with that resolved, Ippolita and I, along with our third and fourth wheels turned over to read the rest of Isabelle's letter.

_I hope this Ippolita makes you happy and I hope you make her happy - I wish I could find someone anywhere near as good as you in The Kingdom, but so far, I've had no luck. I hope this doesn't mean the end of our correspondence, I'd still love to hear from you and, if the opportunity ever presents itself, I promise you I'll journey all the way to Savoy to see you again - after all, so far you've been my first and only friend - and I'm sure you'll do the same if you ever get the chance to visit me here in The Holy Land. I miss you Teresa, but I know that our friendship cannot continue, you have always been and you always will be someone I cherish with all my heart and I will never forget what we shared together. I look forward to your next letter, after all I'm still trying to convince my dad to promise to at least send some ships if your war erupts._

_Goodbye my first friend,_

_Isabelle York de Valois, Princess of Jerusalem, Heiress to The Holy Land._

I agreed fully with Isabelle, I would still love her and cherish her even if our relationship was unsustainable, and I would definitely visit Jerusalem if I ever had a valid excuse to do so, and I'm sure that if she had the chance, she'd get her beautiful little ass over here - in any case, I would certainly be sending her more and more letters well into the future - the last part of the letter was a political point, in a previous letter - our last regularly scheduled correspondence - I asked Isabelle if she could convince her father to at least send ships to help the fight - just like how The Austrian Habsburgs were trying to get The Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg and other Holy Imperial Princes into the fight to help them out, we were trying to add The Kingdom of Jerusalem into the fight, and all three of the alliances wanted to bring England into their faction to get an edge - after all, two great powers in an alliance would be absolutely devastating - Spain was one of the weaker great powers in Europe due to their colonial focus, however, Spain's power in Europe skyrocketed when they split Burgundy with France, with Spain getting the outer reaches of Burgundy while France regained what they had legally given to The Duke of Burgundy, who was officially their subject though The Duke took advantage of The French being occupied with The Hundred Years War to grow their territory, expanding towards Switzerland and north into The Low Countries, vassalizing states as far north as Holland, and all of that became The Spanish Netherlands, and needless to say, despite their previous agreements, both Spain and France wanted to expand into the rest of Burgundy, hence, they were engaging in this proxy war - this wasn't really a war for Romagna, well, to us it was, but to France, Spain, and Austria, this was a war over dominance of western Europe.

I was well aware that Milano, Savoy, Naples, Ferrara, and The Papal States were essentially being used as pawns for our larger and stronger allies, however, this could also be the war that sets The Italian states up for proper independence, this can be the war where Naples defeats the mighty Spanish Empire and forces The Borgia King to abandon his claims to The Kingdom of Naples and on The Kingdom of Sicily, this can be the war where Sardinia and Corsica are freed of Spanish rule, this could be the war where The Habsburgs are pushed out of Italia for good and Ferrara would be in my hands. Since the fall of Roma Italia has been ruled by foreign powers, from Germanic invaders such as The Goths and later The Lombards, and then came Charlemagne and his Holy Roman Empire, since then most of Italia was under foreign rule, The Duchies answered to The Germans, while The Neapolitans, Sicilians, Sardinians, and Corsicans answered to The Spanish, while only The Republics of Genoa and Venice, along with The Papal States were independent, now, Italia has rejected that German Empire and Naples has rejected Aragonese rule, we are independent, it's time to make our fellow Italians independent too - it's time to codify our independence.

* * *

I sat next to Ippolita in a second floor lounge in The Palazzo di Torino - The Palazzo was a truly massive building so yes, it contained numerous bedrooms and lounges, often very far apart from one another. I was a bit nervous but I was doing something to show her just how serious I was about this - after all I had to make up for not telling her about Isabelle and I had to build up trust with Ippolita given that I just betrayed Isabelle in the worst way possible with Ippolita unknowingly being part of it - The Italo-Grecian beauty wasn't going to let that same thing happen to her - in order to build up the trust, I was going to introduce her to my mother, thus, the two of us sat here together and waited patiently for Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II, just like so many others waited for The Duchess to hear their piece and act upon it, the only difference is that I was the daughter of The Duchess of Savoy, therefore, I had special privilege over the common people and even over the highest ranking nobles, as I was her flesh and blood daughter, and, perhaps more importantly, I was her heiress.

"How do you think she'll react?" Ippolita asked.

"I already told her about my sexuality, so the hardest part is over." I replied.

"How did that go?" she asked.

"Her terms were firm but fair - as long as Pietro is there to become my heir, or if he was a child that can take the throne, I'm fine to remain unmarried and to continue my relationship with you in secrecy." I gave her the full story as best as I could.

"That's remarkably tolerant." Ippolita replied.

"Indeed, my mother loves me and Pietro more than life and she just wants us to be happy, not that she'll show it." my mother had to be stern and strong to keep The Duchy in line, her accession to the throne was rather controversial because, despite her brothers having had died out, she still had tons of cousins, uncles, and other male relatives, therefore, she had to silence the nobility and her rivals within the family - which is probably a big part of the reason why she wanted her line of the family to continue so that her rivals in The House di Savoia remain relatively powerless - so Giovanna Vittoria II cannot show any weakness or do anything that will discredit herself or her line - which is why she stresses that I need to keep my sexuality secret - after all, the enemies of The Duchy of Savoy won't hesitate to blackmail me or ruin my reputation - and to have a heir descended from her, after all she doesn't want her more distant relatives to retroactively destroy her reputation and ruin all her ambitious plans for an independent Italia headed by powerful states such as Savoy, Milano, and Naples, and even states like Venezia, Firenze, and The Papal States that we aren't truly allied with, however, they are still a fundamental part of Italia. The Duchy of Savoy could become the home of all Piedmontese and Ligurian Italians, and perhaps also Corsicans, Sardinians, and some Romagnans, while the rest of The Romagnans and The Lombards will belong to Milano, Venetians and their neighbors belonging to Venezia, Tuscans uniting to recreate a state of Tuscany - likely ruled by The Medici and centered around Firenze, Neapolitans, Sicilians, and other southern Italians belonging to Naples, and I suppose then His Holiness The Pope himself can rule over The Umbrians and other central Italians. We just want a strong and independent Italia made up of states that can defend themselves and each other from foreign invaders - now all of this is assuming that The Duchy of Milan does indeed gain Romagna while we regain Ferrara and Modena and additionally push The Spaniards out of The Western Mediterranean Islands of Sardinia and Corsica, this would reduce The Papal States to their central Italian territories such as Urbino, Ancona, The Umbria region itself, and of course The Holy See in Roma itself.

"Hello Teresa," my mother greeted me as she entered before noticing Ippolita "And you would be?"

"Lady Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato," she replied.

"Ah, I know your family well - in fact I was a guest of honor at your baptism." I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised, after all, my mother is The Duchess of Savoy and The Duchess of Monferrato, therefore, obviously she would know the most powerful noble house in The Duchy of Monferrato, however, it was just weird to think of my lover as a daughter of a powerful subject. I suppose that when it came to people close to me, I didn't really see them as anything more than friends, after all, I hardly see a discussion between myself and between Ippolita, Cristina, and/or Lucrezia as a discussion between The Marchioness of Torino and her noble subjects, however, that's exactly what it was, Ippolita was my subject and her entire family was subject to mine, and, no matter what we did in private or how we behaved together, I was her superior and she had to be subservient, or at least appear to be.

"Well needless to say I was too young to remember," Ippolita joked.

"I suppose so," my mother chuckled lightly "So Teresa, you wanted to discuss something?"

"Yes," I answered and took a deep breath, the hard part was over, or at least I hoped it was, time to tell my mother about Ippolita - however, granted that it was only the three of us here and my mother already knew about my sexuality, I'm sure that she could already infer what was going on here "Now, as you know, I am homosexual, I love women, and it just so happens that Ippolita does to, because of that, pretty much from the moment Ippolita arrived at The Palazzo di Torino, the two of us have been together. We've admitted our love to each other and our intimacy has escalated rapidly - I don't want to delve into too much detail but it's pretty clear that Ippolita and I will be together for a long time. I hope you can understand that this isn't some attempt to get out of a political marriage, this is a serious aspect of my life and I hope you'll accept that Ippolita and I are together."

"Ippolita," my mother immediately addressed my lover rather than me...I didn't know if this was good or bad.

"Yes my Duchess?" Ippolita responded.

"Are you going to make my daughter happy?" my mother asked, very sternly.

"I'll make her as happy as she makes me." Ippolita replied, I understand that this was a warning over how my behavior was with Isabelle and how I betrayed her trust and did all of this without telling Ippolita, however, I didn't want her to anger my mother, as my mother had more than enough power to end our relationship and permanently separate us - now I doubted that my mother would go as far as to do that just because of an imperfect answer from my lover, but I did know that my mother truly did have the power to do so.

"Good," my mother smiled, somewhat surprisingly "Teresa deserves a strong and loving person, not a weak sycophant - don't change Ippolita, never let Teresa forget how fortunate she is to have the privilege to be with you - but never abuse this privilege, don't push my daughter away with such an advantage, neither of you possesses a physical advantage - now, I'm certainly not an expert on this particular type of perversion, but I believe that this means that you two should be equal in your relationship - so be equals, make each other happy, and never abuse each other - can you two do that?"

"I will try," Ippolita promised.

"I will do everything I can to ensure Ippolita is happy and equal." I promised as well - my mother truly did care, she wanted to be sure that I would never abuse my position as heiress and eventually as Duchess to wrong Ippolita, and she wanted to be sure that Ippolita wouldn't abuse her position as the subject of my affection, as the one who determines what I am allowed to do or not to do, that Ippolita doesn't abuse that power to wrong me either, because either of these moves could and would completely destroy our relationship and leave us both heartbroken. My mother didn't necessarily fully understand our relationship and I'm not quite sure if she necessarily liked it either, however, more than she potentially disliked our relationship she definitely loved me and she definitely wanted to see me being happy, and if this meant I was happy, then she would tolerate it with some very understandable conditions, and she would ensure my happiness as well as her own - my mother knew that she would have to get used to Ippolita one way or another and she would rather have a cordial relationship with her one and only daughter's lover rather than a hostile one - I was eternally grateful that my mother tolerated my sexuality to begin with and I was equally grateful that she was tolerant of my relationship with Ippolita and that she was even doing her own small part to ensure not only my happiness, but Ippolita's happiness.

"Good," my mother replied "I don't know how your relationship will work and I don't know if I can necessarily approve of it, but if it means that the two of you will be happy, then I suppose I will try to support it."

"Thank you mom," I said and I got up and gave her a hug, grateful and pleased at all we've accomplished together in these short few days of her being here at The Palazzo di Torino "I love you."

"I love you too Teresa," my mother replied.

* * *

Ippolita and I walked side by side heading down the steps of the main hall of The Palazzo di Torino and we would eventually head out of the front door and formally bid farewell to my mother, Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II, who was now heading back to The Chateau de Chambery in Savoie proper along with my younger brother Pietro di Savoia. I was very comfortable in Torino and, as I've said, I believe that an Italian city such as Torino makes more sense for an Italian Duchy than an Alpine French village such as Chambery, additionally, Chambery is on the fringes of our territory while Torino is somewhat more centralized, located on the opposite end of The Alps from Chambery and sitting nestled between the mountains and the vineyards of Monferrato, however, our history and our origins were not Italian, rather they were French - we were French - our family began as Counts of Savoie, given the area around Chambery by The Holy Roman Emperor and we grew from there, and, for the most part, our expansion was into Italia and we adopted an Italian identity, therefore, I believe that, sooner rather than later, we should adopt an Italian capital as well - thus removing the last trace of our French roots - Giovanna Vittoria certainly wasn't a French name, neither was Teresa for that matter - however, I could understand why Giovanna Vittoria II didn't want to be the one to do it, after all, our whole Duchy was named after Savoie - after all, we were not The Duchy of Torino, The Duchy of Piemonte, or any other Italian title, other than our secondary title, The Duchy of Monferrato. Perhaps this war over Romagna will finally give us a valid reason to fully embrace our new Italian identity, perhaps even providing us with enough land and power that we could justifiably claim the right to become a Kingdom rather than a mere Duchy - and I'd imagine that Milano will try and do the same - however, both of us may struggle to actually get crowned given that the creation of Catholic titles has traditionally come from The Pope or at least the next best thing - and I'm afraid that The Archbishops of Torino and Milano may not be enough to create two new Italian Kingdoms, and I doubt The Patriarch of Venezia cares given that The Venetians, one: are certainly not happy that The Duchy of Milano conquered Brescia from them and that we helped, and two: while Venezia, like England, has opted to stay out of this war, The Most Serene Doge certainly wants control of Romagna for themselves, however, The Repubblica Serenissima is smart enough not to become the fourth faction in a war against great powers in even greater alliances, especially considering Venice lacked any particularly powerful allies, no, Venezia would not get involved, rather, Venezia will attempt to prey on whoever won this war - who would likely be absolutely drained from such a massive and multinational war - this is a war over a small slice of central Italia, yet battles could take place as far away as Holland or Gibraltar or Vienna, all very, very far from places like Ferrara, Modena, Imola, and Forli which provide the actual cause of all of this upcoming bloodshed.

We exited The Palazzo di Torino and once again saw all the soldiers lined up in two columns between the doors and between the carriage, we stood patiently outside of the massive and beautiful palace waiting for The Duchess and my younger brother to leave - we would give them a much more personal farewell before my mother would finally address the crowd in general and then finally leave Torino - a thought occurred to me, my mother wasn't getting any younger and she was certainly needed in Chambery, perhaps she wouldn't ever return to Torino - now, I was sure that I would still see her, after all I was going to attend my father's funeral soon enough - however, this could still be her last visit to The Piedmontese city, perhaps even her last visit to Italia proper, and I'm sure that my mother knew that, and I'm sure that she would address this possibility in her general farewell address. I watched the doors and waited at Ippolita's side until we finally saw my mother and my younger brother leaving The Palazzo, the two immediately walked up to us.

"Hello mom," I greeted my mother and then I greeted Pietro "Hello Pietro."

"Hello Teresa," my mother replied "I hope you and Ippolita will remember what we talked about."

"We will," I replied and Ippolita nodded in reply.

"Good," my mother hugged both of us before she turned to me "I'll see you at your father's funeral."

"We'll be there," I told my mother that Ippolita would be my guest - though we would be discrete, no need to get caught in a compromising position before I could even become Duchess of Savoy, and even if there was no risk of getting caught, I wouldn't want to do so anyway, after all, I didn't want to make love with anyone at my father's funeral, besides, we'd have plenty of time to do so before and after our brief trip to Chambery.

"I'm glad," my mother replied and let little Pietro say his own goodbyes as well.

"I'll miss you Teresa," he hugged me around the waist, I let him and once he was done, I kneeled down to speak with him.

"I'll miss you too Pietro," I replied "But don't worry, I'll see you soon."

"I hope so," he smiled "Goodbye Teresa,"

"Goodbye Pietro, goodbye mom," I said bye to both of them.

"Goodbye Teresa, goodbye Ippolita." and with that, my mother walked off to give her address, she stood up on the carriage and faced the crowd of soldiers, nobles, and mere civilians "People of Torino! I am Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II, I came to your city with dreadful news - my husband, Gianmaria d'Este has died, and I fear that I soon my follow - I came here worried about the fate of The Duchy, but I have seen the work of your Marchioness, my daughter, who, in a short few months has ensured that Torino remains a rich and vibrant city, under her stewardship, the nobles are pleased, The Clergy is pleased, and the other vassals in The Principality of Piemonte look upon your city with envy, all thanks to my daughter, Teresa di Savoia, my young heiress who has convinced me that my reign will not be the end of Savoy, rather, just a beginning, Teresa will be your Duchess soon enough, she is able, she is strong, and she will prove herself! So, as I leave Torino, perhaps for the last time, I leave with the knowledge that, when I eventually depart from this world and join the next, I can confidently say that The Duchy of Savoy will be left in very capable hands - Avanti Savoia!"

"Avanti Savoia!" the people echoed my mother's use of our famous battle cry as she road off, leaving me with her blessing.

* * *

Later that night I sat in my bathtub as Giulia washed me - I still let her bathe me after the incident, however, I was much more alert and much more tense, and even with Lucrezia I always washed my more intimate areas myself, now was no exception - but I still let my handmaiden kneel on the ground behind me in a loose shirt and her underwear as she helped bathe me, however, we were soon interrupted by a knock on my door.

"Who is it?" I yelled out.

"Me," I knew exactly who said it, but I was feeling playful.

"Who's me?" I joked.

"Open the door and find out!" she retorted.

"Giulia, please open the door," I told the handmaiden.

"Certainly," she replied, rising to her feet and opening the door for Ippolita - who was sure to lock the door behind her - meanwhile, Giulia returned to her kneeling position but did not continue just yet - I could see why she would feel like she's being intrusive, after all it was pretty clear why Ippolita was in my room at such an hour while I was entirely naked.

"Don't mind me," Ippolita told Giulia as she stripped down, so Giulia awkwardly continued, washing my shoulders as the now naked Ippolita lowered herself down onto my lap.

"Hey Teresa?" Ippolita asked as I grabbed her hips.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I have an idea," she revealed.

"What's that?" I asked but Ippolita soon answered me as she pulled Giulia's hands down onto my breasts and kissed my handmaiden, thus starting a three way orgy, we'd strip Giulia rather quickly and soon enough the three of us made our way over to the bed and enjoyed the feeling of two other naked women.

"I'm willing to share Teresa, remember that, because the next girl may not." Ippolita would later tell me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be the last chapter I post on the first night. I know I promised more, but I'm tired and this is kind of exhausting. Besides, based on the hit counter, none of you reading this were reading it immediately as I was posting the chapters, so, as far as I know, none of you were impacted by this decision to take a break before posting the last fifteen chapters.


	11. The Savoyard Succession Crisis: Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this chapter features another time skip and includes the first instance of character death, so be warned.

Act III.

The Duchess of Savoy and Monferrato.

Chapter XI.

The Savoyard Succession Crisis: Part I.

* * *

It was my 24th birthday - May 22nd, 1565 - I had been Marchioness of Torino for eight years now and that whole time I've been with Ippolita, thus far, we've managed to avoid a war over Romagna, however, we didn't know what was going to happen in the near future - Pope Guglielmus I was growing older and older and there's no telling who his successor would be or what their stance would be on this - for the record, Guglielmus is largely innocent in terms of the war, after all, Romagna has long been one of The Pope's dominions and we can't expect him to just surrender his own land, however, our allies want the land and we stand to gain as well, additionally, at the moment we have the strongest alliance - especially given that The Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg ended up mysteriously assassinated when meeting with a Neapolitan prostitute - quite a compromising position for a German Holy man, especially as The Holy Roman Empire continues to deal with protestant revolts accusing The Clergy of being corrupt and amoral - meanwhile, in true Renaissance Italian fashion, we resolved the issue with a conspiracy and thus his successor rose to the throne and tried to cover up his predecessor's legacy, including the possibility of joining The Habsburg alliance - this was certainly something that we were pleased with and hopefully from here on out we could avoid our enemies getting any stronger. My mother, Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II was alive and she remained unmarried after her husband's death - which granted, is understandable, it does seem that, despite their marriage being solely due to political reasons, my mother and my father did indeed come to love each other, I was happy for them, unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and Gianmaria The Pious died eight years ago and we all know that my mother's time will come sooner rather than later, however, for now, she was still with us. Slowly but surely I was becoming more comfortable with the idea of eventually becoming Duchess of Savoy, every day I was getting better and better at administering Torino, at negotiating with other vassals in Piemonte, in the Duchy as a whole, and, to a lesser degree, with powers abroad, and I've even done some drilling with Colonel Grimaldi and Captain Ludovico in terms of leading troops and commanding battles - I was doing everything I needed to do to be ready to be a proper successor to my mother and lead Savoy to greatness - I just needed a little more time.

I woke up lonely in bed - Ippolita seems to have forgotten how I like to start my birthday, a pity - however, I stayed in bed, I felt that Torino's present to me could just be a brief respite, at least in the morning - so I laid there, the bedsheets being the only thing covering me - Ippolita and I enjoyed ourselves on a nightly basis - with some obvious exceptions, no need to make a mess after all - bringing in Giulia occasionally - she only experienced the sexual part, she entered just to be another object of pleasure and left as Ippolita and I fell asleep in each other's arms - however, Giulia was content with this, she didn't necessarily want romance, I don't think she ever did, even back during her ham-fisted and misguided attempt at seduction. I arched my back and stretched my arms out over my head, letting the red bedsheets slip down my belly - I was preparing to get out of bed when I heard a knock on my door - I hoped that this was exactly who I think it was.

"Who is it?" I yelled out and asked.

"Who do you think?" Ippolita quipped.

"Someone who should've stayed in bed!" I retorted.

"Can I come in?" she finally asked, seemingly struggling with something.

"Can you?" I asked smugly as she opened the door anyway, coming in with a tray - ah I see what her technique was this year, breakfast in bed - I grinned as she set the tray down on the night table and she set herself down on top of me. I immediately ran my hands up her thighs and onto her hips - we've been together for eight years and I was with a woman for the first time nearly ten years ago, I was well past all the hesitation and awkwardness, I knew what I wanted, Ippolita knew what I wanted, and I was going to get it. As I held her hips Ippolita leaned forward, sliding her hands up my torso before resting on my breasts, she played with my nipples - needless to say, I had no complaints - until finally Ippolita lowered her mouth to my left breast - I rolled my head back and simply enjoyed - I would eat my breakfast soon enough, but right now, Ippolita was going to eat first.

Ippolita soon transitioned to my right breast, meanwhile I pulled on the fabric of her dress - I wanted to pull it up and over her so that she would be as naked as I was - for whatever reason, Ippolita decided to put clothes on today - I know she had to go down to the kitchen to get my breakfast but still - however, before I could do so, Ippolita made her way up from my chest, kissing her way up from my right nipple up my breast and up to my neck, leaning closer and closer into me - I didn't object, instead I happily transitioned my hands from her hips to her rear as she gave my neck a long kiss before finally kissing me on the lips, I pushed her body against mine, her breasts pressed into mine, separated only by the pesky fabric of her dress, her lips parted and my tongue entered her mouth and hers did the same to mine before, as always, we had to separate for air.

"Happy birthday Teresa, I love you." Ippolita said, panting for breath.

"I love you too." I replied.

* * *

After having breakfast in bed and then some with Ippolita, we finally and reluctantly left the bedroom. I got dressed in a red and white dress with blue and gold trim while Ippolita wore a dark pink dress with lighter pink trim - I suppose that this was fitting, I was Marchioness of Torino and thus my dress was much grander with many colors and a few different types of fabric whilst Ippolita, a Lady of a prestigious and formerly powerful House, but a mere Lady nonetheless, instead wore a much simpler dress in two tone - now I'm sure commoners would kill for a dress like Ippolita's, it only looked like a lesser dress when compared to mine, and even then Ippolita looked absolutely beautiful in her dress - as she always does, I love her brown eyes surrounded by a natural tan skin derived from her Italo-Grecian roots, I loved her heart-shaped face and the long and curly black hair which flowed down from her head, and finally, I loved her beautiful body, I couldn't sleep without feeling her warm bare flesh pressed into mine. I loved her personality too, see was smart, she was funny, she was caring, and she didn't let the difference in rank get to her - she didn't care that I was Marchioness, she didn't care that I was heiress, and she didn't care that I would be The Duchess of Savoy while she was merely a Lady of Torino, because she knew the reality is that she's my lover. Now, we made our little arrangement with Giulia, basically the idea was that Ippolita would let me deal with my lust as long as she was involved - essentially I assume that her thought process is that she won't have to worry about me betraying her like I betrayed Isabelle - and I do admit that I still haven't told Isabelle about that, though I have written her about my relationship with Ippolita since then - if we had an occasional threesome, and because of her generosity and because of her attempts to placate me, I was determined to never, ever truly hurt her - I would never cheat on her, there was no reason to, she was here and she wasn't going anywhere, and I would never do anything else to hurt her physically or emotionally, she was far too beautiful, far too delicate, and far too kind to hurt her. Thus far, things were going well, we've been together since we were sixteen and in these eight years we haven't had any major incidents, everything has been smooth sailing so far.

"Happy birthday Teresa." Lucrezia gave me a quick hug as she passed through the hall.

"Thanks Lucrezia," I reciprocated before she walked off, seemingly heading back to her own bedroom. Ippolita and I continued to The East Wing stars - in addition to the main hall, The Palazzo di Torino had stairs at the east and west end of The Palace. I didn't exactly know where we were heading and, quite frankly, I didn't care, we were going to go wherever we wanted to go. I know that I love Ippolita now, after all these years I'm absolutely certain, now, what Isabelle and I had on the shores of Lake Geneva was special, she helped me define my whole sexuality at the age of fourteen, however, what happened between us was so rushed and so secretive that we spent all our time trying to figure out exactly how we felt about each other and what exactly we could do about it, and ten years ago, I interpreted that as love but nowadays, I'm not sure - things with Ippolita started fast too but they started fast organically, we weren't being rushed by outside forces like Isabelle and I were during our diplomatic visit - and after eight years with Ippolita, I look back on my fling with Isabelle nearly a decade ago now - it'll be a proper ten years in a few months from now - and I have to wonder...was that truly love or were we just good friends who happened to have had sex once - I imagine that Isabelle must feel a similar way given how easily she let go, we were still close friends and confidants who constantly wrote to each other, however, we simply weren't meant to be lovers, we were an excellent way to prove our sexuality to each other but we just weren't meant to be - still I was grateful for what we had together because that made me ready for all that Ippolita and I have shared together since then.

Ippolita was willing to be part of my life from the very beginning - she hadn't experienced anything sexual before she arrived here at The Palazzo, however, she had apparently kept an open mind to such a relationship, and I certainly wasn't complaining, I was just happy that I could be with The Italo-Grecian beauty and I treasure each and every moment of all these years we've spent together, Ippolita was the phoenix rising from the ashes of my relationship with Isabelle, Ippolita helped pull my heart together after that damned carriage tore it apart, Ippolita has been the wind beneath my wings ever since I meant her. I wasn't so sure about my old relationship with my Jerusalemite Princess but I was entirely sure about my Italo-Grecian beauty. I wasn't happy with myself over how I betrayed Isabelle and, even all these years later, I still felt guilty over what happened with her and I wished that I had the strength to at least admit all of this to my first ever lover, but I didn't, I was still too weak, but I was hoping that I was getting better over time and I hope that one day I could tell her, hopefully in person, however, it still doesn't seem like we would ever get the chance to see each other again, I was heiress to The Duchy of Savoy and Isabelle still had no brother to disinherit her, she was still heiress to The Kingdom of Jerusalem and she's had to deal with an incestuous marriage to her second cousin a French Prince, however, he prefers one of her courtiers, so at very least neither of them even bother to be maintain the appearance of a loving marriage - they had sex, but it was strictly an attempt to produce a child, and even that hasn't materialized yet - Isabelle isn't really happy about this but she's at least happy that she doesn't have to deal with a husband that actually loves her or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, a cruel and abusive ape of a man, still, I wish that Isabelle could've dodged a heterosexual and political marriage just like I had managed to avoid, but at very least she's on the same page as her husband - no love, just politics, nothing more, nothing less.

Ippolita and I walked down the steps to the first floor of The Palazzo di Torino, in these last few years The Palazzo has been renovated extensively, taking advantage of Torino's position as the gateway for trade entering Italia by land from the west, we used the profits to redesign the façade completely, we made The Palazzo a truly Renaissance building, adding Greco-Roman columns and adding a large dome over the main hall - on top of that dome we placed the flag of The Duchy of Savoy - which we also placed on top of both the eastern roof and the western roof in order to ensure symmetry. Between the domes and the eastern and western roofs were six more flagpoles, three on each side, in the middle of these two pairs was the flag of The Principality of Piemonte - which The Marquisate of Torino was considered part of - the Piedmontese flag was essentially a simplified version of the flag of Savoy, removing the letters FERT and leaving the white cross on a red background, however, in order to make this flag more significant, two elements were added - a blue three pronged heraldic label towards the top and finally, a gold fringe surrounded the entire flag. The final flag, occupying the outer two poles of the pairs of three flags on either side of the new central dome was the flag of The Marquisate of Torino itself - the basic pattern was much like The Savoyard flag as it was a white cross on a blue background, however, instead of the letters FERT, the blue corners all had golden prancing bulls on them, and, much like the flag of The Principality of Piemonte, the flag of Torino also had a golden fringe on it, the arrangement of the flags meant that The Savoyard flag was most prominent whilst the flag of Torino was the most numerous, with four flags compared to three for Savoy and only two for Piemonte. At this point, The Palazzo di Torino is considerably larger and much more lavish than The Chateau de Chambery, which is a Palace built up from a Medieval manor, now, it has been built up quite a bit, however, there is only so much one can do with such a building and, as I've stated repeatedly, Torino simply makes more sense as the location of our capital, the fact that The Palazzo is a much more fitting residence for someone as powerful as The Duchess of Savoy than a place like The Chateau or really any other place or residence in The Savoyard lands, in fact, The Palazzo di Torino may be one of the greatest places of residence in all of Italia, the only city's that I could imagine have anything that could potentially match up with Torino are Milano, Venezia, Roma, and Napoli, and even internationally, I believe that The Palazzo di Torino can match up with great palaces in places like Paris, London, Toledo, Vienna, or Warsaw, the greatest and biggest cities in all of Europe, and needless to say, The Chateau de Chambery cannot, The Chateau is more along the lines of a palace in a much less significant state such as Ferrara, Modena, or Mantua, however, right now, the choice of where our capital should be is not mine to make, because, right now, my mother Giovanna Vittoria II is The Duchess of Savoy, and I am merely Teresa di Savoia, The Marchioness of Torino.

Ippolita and I eventually walked into the throne room and we would've kept going, however, I had noticed a panicked messenger was standing in the room, he was pacing back and forth - I know it's my birthday but this seems very urgent - so, with a sigh, I walked over to the throne and sat myself down, Ippolita stood obediently just to my side, not quite brazen enough to actually sit down in the throne meant for The Consort of The Marquis or Marchioness of Torino, in any case, I was in the throne and the messenger was patiently waiting so that he could deliver his news - I wasn't sure what this was...was the war for Romagna declared already? Was it some sort of important foreign intrigue? Perhaps The Holy Roman Emperor has died and between the rebellious electors and the rising storm of Protestantism tensions have reached a critical point, or maybe England has decided to deliver a surprise strike upon their enemies in France or Spain while they've been preparing for conflict in Italia, or perhaps another country has joined one of the alliances. Or perhaps the news is something much more personal and much more dreadful...in any case, I didn't know and I was itching to find out, so, once I was well situated in my throne and once I had managed to get my thoughts together, I formally called court into session and gave the messenger permission to speak his piece.

"My Marchioness, I bring tragic news from Chambery!" Oh no...realistically this could mean one of two things, the first possibility is that Pietro has injured himself - unlikely, as at this point he's seventeen and more than smart enough to handle himself - the other possibility, the more likely one, is the possibility than all of us have been worried about for years now, the possibility that my mother died - yes she was relatively young when she raised me but a lot of time has passed, it's been almost a decade since Isabelle and I were together and even longer since I've been under my mother's direct supervision, she's grown older as we all do, and combined that with all the stress that comes with ruling a modern Duchy, especially one as large and as significant as Savoy with a massive war always on the horizon, having to deal with the knowledge that her one and only daughter is gay - I know that in such a time this is a very controversial sexuality, especially given that our current enemies include His Holiness The Pope himself - my sexuality combined with my involvement in a war against him could certainly serve as grounds for my excommunication, and that would absolutely ruin my reputation as well as that of my entire dynasty, and my mother also has to deal with the fact that, eight years ago, her husband, who she truly did love, died, all of that adds up and all of that is more than enough to shorten ones lifespan, as well as the fact that even the best people in the world may have short lifespans, and, meanwhile, we could also see tyrants living twice as long as their more benevolent counterparts, this is just the unfortunate reality of life, the good may die young and the evil may live for decades.

"What is it?" I tentatively asked after a deep sigh, I was bracing myself for the worst possible news imaginable. My mother was largely hands off with me being Marchioness, she gave one visit to see Torino for herself and she was pleased with what she saw, and once she saw that, she gave me a wide berth and was pleased with the news of how I was able to improve the city and all of that, this meant that getting a messenger had to be very, very important, and given the messenger's demeaner thus far, as well as the fact that he's already revealed that he's here with tragic news means that I had to expect a death or a critical injury - I still hadn't heard the news, but I could already tell that the news was grim and I already felt it in my heart that the news was about my mother, I already knew that I would be heading to Chambery because of this - of course it didn't help that my last experience in Chambery was my father's funeral eight years ago - and I had a feeling that I would have to deal with another funeral and a coronation soon after. If I was right and my mother has departed from this earth, then that meant that I was now Teresa I di Savoia, Duchess of Savoy, Duchess of Monferrato, Princess of Piemonte, Countess of Nice, Countess of Vaud, Countess of Valais, Countess of Liguria, Marchioness of Torino, Liege and Protector of The Lordship of Monaco, and The Head of The House di Savoia - this meant that I had a lot of title and I would need to do them all justice - there was a lot of pressure with that.

"Your mother Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II di Savoia has died after a brief period of illness, God rest her soul. Now, as heiress to the throne you are needed in Chambery at once." and so, my prediction were proven true, my mother was dead and I had to take on the mantle of Duchess of Savoy - now, I know my mother didn't die today, it takes time for a messenger to get from Chambery to Torino after all, however, I was still learning about it on my birthday, a day that is supposed to be a day of celebration turned into a day of anxiety and mourning as I would have to head for our capital knowing that my mother would not be there to greet me, knowing that I would be the one at the helm of The Duchy of Savoy as we inevitably entered a war over Romagna, knowing that in said war, I promised my mother that I would take back Ferrara and Modena, the lands of The House d'Este, because those lands are rightfully mine, and all the while knowing that myself and Pietro are left completely alone - our parents are gone, the responsibility of ruling our lands and preserving the dynasty is now ours and ours alone - to some, this would be exciting, however, to me, this is terrifying, as becoming The Duchess of Savoy is the moment that my entire life was building up towards, this would be the time that defines me, would I be written of in history books as a champion of The House of Savoy or would I be remembered as the woman who crumbled and left centuries of a legacy crashing down around her as Savoy fell to our enemies: The Spanish, The Austrians, The Hungarians, and The Papacy - I now bore the weight of The Duchy of Savoy on my shoulders, and I can promise you that I did not feel ready for this, I did not feel like I could truly fulfill my responsibilities, and I didn't even know what would be awaiting me in Chambery itself - I was scared, I was confused, and I would have to deal with all of that as I made my way to that little Chateau of ours on the other side of The Alps.

"Thank you for the news," I replied solemnly, I was about to get up and begin preparations for a trip to Chambery when a second messenger rushed into the room, this one looking even more haggard than the one from Chambery.

"My Marchioness!" He yelled "Permission to speak?"

"Granted," I replied, I wasn't sure what exactly this could be.

"Your mother is sick and rumors of her death and your inheritance have reached Nice, a group of nobles have raised their forces together and created an army intent on claiming The Savoyard throne for your brother, Pietro di Savoia!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, my mother just died and before she could even be laid to rest a rebellion against me has risen up, worst still, my very own brother seems to be involved, a massive betrayal has struck The Duchy of Savoy and I would have to deal with all of this quickly and forcefully, because if I dealt with this situation improperly, then my rule would never be taken seriously, and if I failed to respond to this all together, then I could be overthrown entirely - now I wasn't sure if these rebels in Nice actually wanted to make Pietro ruler of it they simply intended to use him as a puppet to exert their very own control upon The Duchy of Savoy, after all, the nobles always wanted power over their superiors, none of them were content to simply accept their place as The Duchy's rich and famous, rather, they also wanted more, and that left rulers such as myself struggling with these uprisings.

"Indeed my Lady, I don't know what The Duchess will do!" The second messenger exclaimed.

"The Duchess is dead," The first messenger informed his counterpart, meanwhile, I just wanted some silence to think and then a private moment with Ippolita, I certainly needed to talk to her about this.

"Enough!" I yelled out, silencing the two messengers so that I could finally get the out of here "I would like to thank both of you for your news, now both of you are dismissed, please, be gone."

"Ippolita," I faced my lover when the two messengers finally left "I need to go to Chambery,"

"I know," she replied "I'll join you there as soon as I can resolve everything on my fief." Ippolita was still a Lady of Torino and had her own land to work on and to live on, however, just like Lucrezia, Cristina, and my other local Lords, Ladies, and other vassals opted to live here at The Palazzo and leave their actual land in the hands of an overseer who would ensure their land is used profitably while the nobles themselves would much rather involve themselves in royal intrigue, just like they had now done in Nice - in any case, because of this land and because of this responsibility, Ippolita couldn't just leave Torino so abruptly, she needed to talk to her overseer and make arrangement for, well, a few months probably, I would be very busy with dealing with this rebellion and then arranging my coronation so that I could become The Duchess of Savoy, such events meant that it would be months before I could even return to Torino itself, and even then, once I had the chance to, would I even have the reason to do so or would other obligations outweigh any possibility of going to the city that was my home for all these years? I didn't know, all that I did know is that, right now, I am needed in the city of Chambery in Savoie itself than I was needed here in Torino, and this little rebellion in Nice meant that I had to act quickly - my plan thus far is to go to Chambery, deal with any threats to the throne there and cement my new-found position as Duchess before heading for the Ligurian coastal city to resolve all of this.

"Thank you," I told Ippolita, giving her a hug and a kiss before I left the throne rooms to make arrangements for a carriage to leave Torino for Chambery today - I needed to get to the capital as soon as I possibly could, I did not want to risk the nobles in any other city feeling emboldened and rising up with there own demands - I was confidant that I could quickly gather up more than enough soldiers and mercenaries to quickly squash this one rebellion, however, if more and more groups of nobles decided to rise up and were able to muster up enough of the populace on their side, combined with their personal levies and mercenaries, could prove too much for even The Savoyard military to handle with, because once the nobles see a weakness, they will continue to press it and press it each and every time they could think of a way to improve their own selfish power - that's why it's so crucial to crush this particular rebellion, because if I established my absolute authority early on in my reign, then I could ensure that the public views me as a powerful and legitimate monarch, however, the risk is also there that I may fail to crush this rebellion and prove myself as a weak and ineffectual leader, and if I failed this early on, then the nobles and the public would never, ever take me seriously again, and neither would our enemies abroad, so, as I gave Ippolita my goodbye kiss and boarded my carriage to Chambery, I was well aware that this moment would forever define my entire reign, and I was certainly hoping to start strong - I wanted to be a strong Duchess and I wanted to live up to the reputation of my mother and all of my ancestors...I certainly had big shoes to fill and I wasn't sure if I was ready to deal with this quite yet, but I had no choice, I was on my way to Chambery and almost immediately after I would be heading to Nice...all of this stemming from what should have been a regular, happy birthday, but I suppose that there's no change for getting today back, and given the stakes, I couldn't exactly let this wait for tomorrow.

* * *

I came down from the carriage in the early hours of the morning - I had just made it and I wasn't going to waste time, plus I didn't necessarily want to be seen by the populace of Chambery quite yet - I arrived just outside of The Chateau de Chambery - I kept my entrance very low key given the circumstances, I would make a much more proper arrival to Chambery once I could finally crush this rebellion, but first, I needed to confront Pietro, because apparently this whole rebellion is because of nobles who want to put my brother on the throne - now, I wasn't sure if Pietro was actually involved or if the nobility simply intended to use him as a puppet, but I felt that there was only one way to find out - so I rushed into The Chateau, intent on hunting down my younger brother and getting the truth out of him. So I opened the double doors of The Chateau and slipped inside.

"Pietro!" I yelled out when I found him already awake, attending to a canvas - Pietro was now seventeen and he had matured into a handsome young man, relatively tall, fit, always dressed stylishly and wearing a long black beard - from the letters my mother sent me before she died, I knew that Pietro fancied himself a Renaissance man, intent on mastering painting, writing, poetry, sword fighting, military strategy, and even architecture, my mother approved of this and even invited a great Venetian artist to our court in order to take Pietro under his wing and make a man out of him, thus far, the results were pretty clear, Pietro was painting quite well and his skills with a sword were incredible, the rest was coming along nicely. Pietro decided to become more of a Renaissance man than a ruler, and I would certainly give him support and patronage, as long as he isn't involved in this revolt or anything like that.

"Teresa? Thank God you're here!" he exclaimed as I pushed him against the wall and pinned him down, not caring that he was larger and stronger than me, because I was fueled by rage and I needed answers.

"Pietro - what is the meaning of this?!" I yelled in his face.

"Of what?" he replied.

"The revolt in Nice! Our mother isn't even laid to rest and you are already trying to seize the throne?!" I didn't know if he was innocent or if he was just playing dumb, but I was going to find out, one way or another - I was supposed to be mourning right now because my one and only mother is dead, instead I have to interrogate my very own brother and then crush a rebellion of the nobles - I wish that my first visit to Nice as Duchess of Savoy would be on better terms than this, but no, I will be going to Nice as a general of an army to completely annihilate everything that these nobles had built up for this damn rebellion of theirs - and I would be bringing overwhelming force against those nobles - modern infantry arranged in pike-and-shot squares of pikemen and gunners, supported by cavalry, and I would be bringing the one thing that I'm confidant that the nobles wouldn't manage to raise up - I would bring artillery with me, I would let the cannons blast that entire rebellion into pieces before my cavalry overrun them and then my infantry picks off the last few pitiful remains of that uprising - yes, that would be perfect, this would be the response that absolutely obliterates the nobility and solidifies my rule...let's see if anyone else wants to rise up against me if they see that this is my response to rebellions, and while they are neutralized by this fear, I win them over with love and kindness, eventually winning the support of the nobility - perhaps even the support of the survivors of this uprising - I wasn't going to execute any of the nobles involved, those that died in battle would already be dead and those who survived would already be humiliated by their failure, and after that I would win them over.

"Teresa, you know I don't want to rule - I have nothing to do with this!" he pleaded.

"Do you swear?" I asked.

"Yes!" He yelled "I swear!"

"Good," I released him and collapsed into a chair he had in this studio of his, stressed out over all of these developments, I believed that Pietro was innocent however I still had to squash this rebellion "I need to deal with this uprising."

"I know," he replied, resting his hand on my shoulder, my brother knew that I meant no harm when I pinned him against the wall, I just needed answers and he gave them, now, to raise an army and to head to Nice.

* * *

I sat on top of a white stallion just north of Nice - I was wearing a suit of armor that my mother had used in her younger years, it fit me well, there was metal plate armor over my chest, upper arms, lower arms, thighs, legs, and feet, meaning that the armor protected the vast majority of my body while leaving my joints open to movement, and below my armor I wore tight dark red trousers and a shirt, and over my back I had a red cape which on the back had the white cross and the letters FERT - thus from behind me, my soldiers could see The Savoyard flag. I would be leading my troops against the uprising, and here they gathered before me, the infantry arranged in pike-and-shot formations, the cavalry ready to charge any enemy, the cannons just waiting to be loaded with their fatal charge to dispose of our enemies with haste - this would be a truly overwhelming response.

"Soldiers!" I began my speech to the troops "My mother, Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II has died, she left me as her heir, these rebels act in their own self-interest, they seek to turn The Savoyard throne into their own puppet, they seek to create a dictatorship of the nobility, and they are doing all of this before Giovanna Vittoria can even be laid to rest - this is a massive disrespect to myself and to my House, this is a massive disrespect to my late mother and her wishes, this is nothing more than the nobility run amuck - they claim to represent my brother Pietro di Savoia, when in fact they have never even spoken to my brother, but I have, I know that Pietro supports my accession to the throne - he wants nothing to do with these nobles who intend to make a puppet out of him. We must honor my mother's memory, we must keep The Duchy of Savoy in the hands of The House di Savoia - these nobles do not intend to support you, they don't intend to pay you or treat you as well as we have, they solely want to seize power for themselves - we must never let The Duchy fall into the hands of these rebels, we must go to Nice and crush these rebels, we must do what is right for The Duchy of Savoy. We have more soldiers than these rebels do, we are better armed and better trained, and we have artillery on our side - this will be an overwhelming victory for us - so gather your arms, raise your flags, and follow me into Nice itself so that we may crush our enemies! Avanti Savoia!"

"Avanti Savoia!" The soldiers echoed my battle cry as we marched into Nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, next chapter sees some action, with depictions of war and death. If that is a trigger for you, there is going to be quite a bit of warfare going forward, especially in act four.


	12. The Savoyard Succession Crisis: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said, this chapter includes some battle scenes and they can be a bit graphic. Also, Teresa gets to negotiate with the Pope, which is always fun.

Act III.

The Duchess of Savoy and Monferrato.

Chapter XII.

The Savoyard Succession Crisis. Part II.

* * *

My Savoyard army marched closer and closer to Nice as we prepared to crush this noble rebellion, I rode my horse towards the front of the group - however I had allowed a few squares of pikemen to come before me in case of an enemy ambush - I suppose that this was for the best after all, given that I wasn't being particularly subtle - after all I was sat on top of a white horse and I was essentially wearing the flag of Savoy on my back. I wasn't sure exactly where the rebel army would be right now, I mean yes they rose up in Nice itself, however, that was before I traveled from Torino to Chambery and then from Chambery here to Nice, meaning that this means that, for all I know, these rebels could be as far away as The Genoese border, however, I was confident that these rebels were still in Nice because no messengers have arrived with news of the rebels moving, nor have any other towns or cities reported the arrival of such a large rebel army, therefore, it seems that the rebels haven't moved yet, but I wasn't quite sure why. I didn't know if these rebels were going to remain in the city and defend themselves through the sheer fact that it is awkward to move such an army through a city - additionally, that would largely nullify our artillery, because we did not want to harm our own people or to destroy their homes, both of which are very much possible with modern cannons. The other possibility, which I personally consider more likely, is that this rebel army would attempt to seize the local star fort for themselves, because realistically, the only thing that the rebels could use to defend themselves from our modern artillery is to use our own fortifications against us. Star forts were one of the newest tools of warfare, created here in Italia, these multilayered fortifications are much lower than Medieval castles, rather the walls were built to be thick rather than tall, and beyond these walls were the bastions - triangular sections of the main wall designed to avoid any blind spots for the defenders, and also because such a shape is more resilient against cannon fire. There is more to these star forts than just the main walls and their bastions, because outside of these walls is a complex series of lesser fortifications, including secondary and perhaps even tertiary bastions, moats, wide ditches, and auxiliary walls - all designed to replace the old towering castles with these massive and expensive fortress that can handle sieges by modern artillery. We had one of these set up north of Nice to protect the city from an invasion by land - enemy armies cannot simply try and go around a star fort, because the defenders of these fortresses can constantly batter an invading army with their own cannons, with gunmen, with archers, and even with peasants armed with stones should that become necessary.

Pietro had nothing to do with these rebels, therefore, I was assuming that this was simply noble greed at work, however, this could be far more than that, yes the nobles and their greed was definitely a factor, but these nobles had to think they would be successful for a reason - these rebelling nobles very well may have foreign aid, I wouldn't be surprised if The Papal States, Spain, or Austria was willing to support such an uprising, after all they were well aware that a rebellion in Savoy was certainly not helping me establish my rule - now I was sure that I would be better off once I crushed these nobles, however, until I dealt with this, personally - like what I'm trying to do right now - there would be doubt, there would be claims that my rule was illegitimate, and, of course, there would be a fairly large army in my land intent on killing me or at least deposing me and putting my brother on the throne with the intent of making him a puppet of the nobility, obviously, this army couldn't be allowed to exist, so here was my army marching towards Nice, and here I was right along with it, because if I wasn't personally involved with crushing this uprising, then I would forever be seen as a coward - therefore, I had to go here with my army, I had to risk my life in the heat of battle, I had to do this in order to be taken seriously as The Duchess of Savoy.

I was confidant that I wouldn't be injured in this conflict though, because my army was overwhelming, both in size and in armament, these rebels would be crushed and I would soon be able to return to Chambery for my mother's funeral, and soon after that, for my coronation. I suppose that for even more uneven odds, I could ask my French and Milanese allies to send a detachment of troops into battle, however, I was confidant that such a move would not be necessary, my forces would be more than enough, and the movement of French troops into Italia may be seen as a provocation by The Pope or by The Holy Roman Emperor, I did not want to be the one to cause the war over Romagna - the fact that nobody wants to be the one to cause the war is probably the only reason that we still have peace in Italia, because, while everyone is confidant in the strength of their alliances, no one knows exactly what their enemies have in their pocket, no one has a secret weapon, and no one wants to be the one who is proven wrong about the strength of their alliance - and thus, we are locked at an impasse, waiting for our enemies to make the declaration of war or for a fatal slip from them so that we may pounce upon the opportunity to push our enemies out of Romagna. Milano, Savoy, Naples, and France on one side, The Papal States and Spain on another, and Ferrara, Austria, and Hungary make up a third faction, all of us are hostile to each other and these is little to no chance that any two of these alliances would band together to form a super faction that can easily crush the third, and there is equally little chance that an outside player such as England would join any of these factions, because England wants to watch her enemies eliminate each other so that The English can seize upon the opportunity to prey on their weakened rivals.

However, the situation could be changing rapidly, as I saw a messenger in the distance rushing towards us, I rushed my horse a little more to get to the front of our group so that I could confront the messenger.

"My Duchess!" he addressed me "I bring news from the fortress!"

"What is it?" I asked, he was clearly referring to the star fort just north of Nice.

"The rebels have been repelled from the fortress - they cannot withstand the artillery - and they are attempting to regroup between the fortress and Nice, beyond the range of the cannons. If you hurry, you can catch them before they manage to reorganize and move into the city itself!" He reported, this was perfect, because it proved three things to me, one: the star fort in Nice was still on our side, two: the nobility lacked their own artillery and were likely hoping that the garrison of the fortress could be convinced or bought - they intended to use the star fort against me, but the reason they needed it is because they are not strong enough to actually take the fortress, and when the fortress answered their pleas with cannon fire, the nobility fled, and three, this proved to me that this nobility was doomed to fail, the people in charge were power hungry landholders, rather than generals, and, based upon their actions at the star fort, they weren't even good diplomats either. It's clear to me that these nobles are too stupid to raise an army on their own, someone convinced them to do this, someone told them to try and take the fortress - likely a foreign figure with far too much faith in these particular nobles - all in an attempt to either overthrow me and place my brother on the throne, or perhaps our enemies abroad simply hoped that this rebellion could fuel other uprisings or at least result in my death in battle, however, I would be smart once the fighting actually broke out. I would lead from behind the front lines, close enough to be actually involved in leading my troops but far enough that I would be relatively safe - this wasn't cowardice, this was common practice in a time where many monarchs didn't even bother to lead troops at all, seeing themselves as far too important to involve themselves in such a vulgar activity as war - despite, you know, declaring those vulgar wars - and instead proclaiming generals out of nobles or minor family members, but I would do my best to lead, just like my mother did, I knew that my gender meant that I was at an extreme disadvantage in physical combat, which is why instead I opted for this lead from behind approach, but I was hoping that my troops would at very least see that I was at the battle and I would witness everything as I made calls to push forward or to retreat, I hoped that my troops would see this active leadership and appreciate it, because this thing was becoming rarer and rarer in modern Europe.

"Excellent!" I exclaimed "Forward men!"

We continued to march forward through the various hills and valleys of the area - Nice, like most cities in The Duchy of Savoy, was in the shadow of The Alps, and thus we had to go through these foothills, the star fort itself is built in a large valley just by Nice - the majority of that particular Ligurian city was built just along the coastline right now, not expanding too far inland despite having a fairly flat area for it to expand to before reaching the particularly high hills, however, that was good, because that meant that the city still had places to expand to - and I hope that it would expand, I intended to invest in all the cities of The Duchy of Savoy when I had the money to do so, just like I had done in Torino during my reign as Marchioness - and I was far from done, I wanted Torino to be the gem of Italia, we had a world class palace in Torino, now we just needed the rest of the city to match up with The Palazzo - Torino, in terms of Italian cities, has always lagged behind places like Firenze, Milano, Venezia, and Roma, but I intended to change that, I wanted to make Torino a truly great city, a city that would be the envy of The Europe, a city that could perhaps fuel a spike in The Italian Renaissance, I knew that this would be expensive, I knew that there would be a lot of difficulty in achieving this, but I was only 24 years old and I was now Duchess of Savoy, I had many, many years ahead of me and I intended to make my mother proud over the course of my reign - I would make the cities of Savoy greater than they have ever been, I would fight like a lioness to win the war over Romagna whenever that eventually came, and once that war came, I would ensure that I get my father's rightful lands in Ferrara and Modena, as for what happens after that, it remains to be seen. My father has always prioritized Ferrara, and Ferrara has a port so I will definitely be prioritizing that, Modena, while a more populous territory, would be much harder to rule from Savoy, perhaps I will give Modena to a vassal to rule it in my place, or perhaps after I secure both - and thus fulfil my promise to my mother - I will exchange Modena for some other territory that would be easier to rule and perhaps even more profitable on top of that.

We marched into the valley containing the star fort and saw that the fortress was still giving off cannon fire towards the position the rebels were fleeing towards, not too much because the outermost reaches of Nice were not particularly far from the clearing these rebels were attempting to regroup in - there was a time where all of Nice would've been safely behind walls, however, as walls proved unable to cope with modern technology and populated increased faster than even the best architects in all of Europe could erect walls, more and more cities opted to simply place a fortress near a city in order to protect the entire settlement, no longer bothering to expand their network of walls when the people would build homes outside of the walls anyway and even if they didn't, perpendicular city walls couldn't exactly withstand much cannon-fire at all, and it would be a downright impossible task to take a city as large as Nice, let alone one as large as Torino, and build a massive star fort around all of it, and, as battles like this have proven, our current solution was more than enough to take care of pretty much any threat - granted these rebels didn't even have any artillery, but if we were fighting a somewhat legitimate threat, then they would find that even with the heaviest cannons in their armament, taking a Savoyard fortress is easier said than done.

"Cannons!" I got my own cannons into the fray, the cannons were rolled to the front of our little army and the artillery men pulled the barrel up in order to reach the enemy positions, and then the cannonballs were loaded and we opened fire - even at a distance the results were devastating, we effectively doubled the amount of cannon fire hitting this rebel army - I could only imagine that the noble leaders of this rebellion turned around to see who else was shooting at them, they saw the flagpoles our men were carrying, all flying the red and white flag of The Duchy of Savoy, marked with the letters FERT, an abbreviation for the motto of The House di Savoia in the corners created by the white cross on our flag, and finally realized how incredibly misguided their rebellion was - my guess is that their foreign aid is in the form of money and broad advice in terms of strategy before taking a hands off approach, and, in typical noble fashion, the nobles likely decided to add that money to their own coffers rather than spending the money on actually producing a worthwhile army with cavalry and artillery. There was a time were vassals and minor land holders were smart, cunning, and as legitimate threat to their liege as the liege's enemies were, however, as Kings, Queens, Dukes, and Duchesses consolidated their authority and feudalism slowly but surely became less and less decentralized, the individual nobles became irrelevant, they didn't have the power alone to accomplish anything at all, and rather than being known by name as a vassal, a noble was now merely a part of the nobility, nothing more and nothing less, of course that didn't mean that the nobles weren't a threat, they were rebelling right now after all, but they were not an individual threat, one noble couldn't realistically rebel against his or her liege, unless that noble happens to be more popular than the liege, and even then that popularity means that the noble will be strong because of his supporters, anyway, the point is that these nobles were forced to act in a group in order to achieve their goals - such an army as this rebellion was probably made up of several nobles and their individual levies - and the nobles in a group didn't necessarily like each other, and they definitely didn't want to share the money from their foreign benefactors because, after all, let's say the nobles would somehow win this rebellion and install Pietro as their puppet, well then immediately after that, the rebels would fight each other in an attempt to seize control of the group, and take all the levies and all the money for themselves. The nobles existed in this modern age but were still trying to behave in a very Medieval way, self-serving and thinking that they could legitimately fight their liege, that is why they are doomed to fail, and that is why, after a brief bombardment, I ordered my troops to cross the valley and reach the clearing where the rebel army was, intent on finishing them off once and for all.

Our army crossed the valley and reached the clearing - the noble so-called generals didn't know what to do, they weren't sure how or where to flee to when they were getting hit by cannon fire - these were clueless nobles, not hardened generals, they had no place commanding troops, their place was licking boots in a palace trying to win favor, that was their skill, and right now, it was painfully obvious as my armies closed upon their pitiful forces. I let the squares of pikemen come ahead of me and I watched the carnage unfold - our army and the rebels clashed, I watched as my troops stabbed the enemy, stabbed them again, then the second line fired upon the enemy with their arquebuses, and while our gunmen were reloading, the pikemen stabbed at the enemy twice - this was the pike and shot tactic, the first line stabs the enemy while the shooters reload - now, as guns were getting more and more advanced and commonplace, some smaller countries were beginning to favor the shot part of the formation rather than the pike, however, Savoy was a little too large for that, we simply couldn't outfit our entire budding professional army, let alone adding in our vast legions of mercenaries, with twice as many guns as we currently have, especially given that I have such lofty goals for The Duchy of Savoy as a whole and, while I knew that a war over Romagna was inevitable, I did not intend for war to define my rule - I would fight over Romagna and possibly down the line I would annex Genoa, besides that, I did not intend to get into too many wars at all - now, if my allies such as France or Naples got into a war after our conflict in Romagna and needed my help, I would help them, I would stay true to all our treaties and alliances, however, I did not want to be the one starting wars against my neighbors - I wanted Ferrara and Modena, along with Spain's Mediterranean holdings from the war over Romagna, and given that I already rule of Nice, Monaco, Albenga, and so many other cities in Liguria, I might as well take Genoa and eastern Liguria from the rapidly declining Republic to our southeast - at this point, following downright foolish wars with much larger neighbors, including a downright inane attempt to use local rebels to seize Crimea from The Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth, a nation so large and so powerful they have fought and defeated the various Mongol Khanates and their former subjects who united in a broad coalition lead by The Muscovites, yet, for some reason, Genoa thought that they could win a war against them - after that, we realized we would have absolutely no trouble at all with conquering Liguria - in any case, because of these foolish conflicts, The Republic of Genoa has been reduced to the area of eastern Liguria surrounding Genoa itself, along with a few Greek islands who aren't particularly worthwhile to anyone else, whether it be the various small crusader states set up around Greece after The Fourth Crusade - such as The Duchy of Athens, The Duchy of The Archipelago, The Duchy of Corfu, along with various islands such as Crete who answer directly to The Repubblica Serenissima di Venezia, The Kingdom of Cyprus, and Rhodes, which is home to The Knights Hospitallier - now, all of these states would've likely been conquered by The Ottomans just like The Byzantine Empire was, if not for the fact that The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and The Habsburgs in Austria and in Hungary proclaimed that they would attack The Turk if they attacked Albania, Serbia, Moldavia, or any other power in Europe, not to mention that The Ottomans received another crushing blow when Europe's great powers banded together to establish The Kingdom of Jerusalem.

My soldiers were stabbing and shooting and I could tell that the enemy army was crumbling, the rebel soldiers weren't as well trained or as well equipped as my troops were - because, once again, the nobles were greedy and didn't want to spend their money on their levies, and especially not the levies of their allies who were very likely their future enemies - and the nobles leading them weren't very good generals at all - I was not an experienced general either, however, I at very least was trained in basic combat and in how to lead troops by my mother before I turned sixteen and became The Marchioness of Torino and, given how blatantly unbalanced this conflict was in my favor, I didn't really need to be a very good general in this battle - this battle was won before it even began. We were taking some losses just like everyone did in any battle, however, the enemy losses were astronomically higher, our advantage was very clear and was about to get so much more extreme as our artillery was rolled into the battle - cannons were heavy and, even on wheels, it took a long time to move them compared to cavalry and infantry, especially in an uneven valley like this one, but my men managed and our cannons were now in play once again - now obviously the star fort had stopped firing because they were far enough away that they couldn't reliably hit the enemy without hitting us - however, our cannons were directly in the battle now, so I watched as they were moved into position and aimed into the enemy's secondary and tertiary lines - we weren't going to take chances hitting the enemy's main lines because then we'd very likely injure and kill many of our own soldiers - and finally, our cannons fired, tearing balls of hot, explosive lead into the heart of the enemy air, the explosions threw up dust, blood, and limbs and the enemy lines crumbled - they didn't expect us to use cannons once our troops were locked in such a close battle, that's why this was an absolutely devastating tactics, I even saw several of the noble commanders on horseback crumble over and die, not to mention that the dust and confusion left the enemy's first line dazed and confused, allowing our pike and shot formations to annihilate their front lines as well. In short, the rebel army lost any and all sense of organization or real combat ability when our cannons opened fire - so many soldiers fell dead, so many of their comrades were shocked and deafened by the explosions, allowing my soldiers to completely shatter what's left of their army - I really liked this tactic of using cannons closely to tear apart the enemy, now, I was well aware that I was risking a lot by taking my artillery up to the very front of line and firing deep into the enemy lines to destroy their rear lines while all the enemy soldiers were trying to get really close to my soldiers in order to use their pikes and relatively short range firearms effectively, we would fire directly into this dense mass of enemy soldiers and completely devastate the enemy, however, that enemy could also attack my artillery much more directly and fairly easily eliminate my ability to use cannons entirely, so essentially, this was a high risk, high reward tactic, but against such a weak and underperforming army like these rebels, this tactic was extremely effective, and thus, it won us this battle in Nice.

The enemy was in full retreat, the remains of their army were herded away by their noble generals and no doubt many of the soldiers who managed to escape from this battle would retreat - given that there was no surrender, I still think that the nobles will try and reform their pitiful remains of an army into a fighting force somewhere not too far, however I am almost certain that this noble army won't be able to withstand any more fighting, especially given that the noble leadership would predictably argue with each other as soon as they were at a relatively safe distance away from us, trying to place the blame for their massive failure in this battle on each other. As the enemy army retreated out of site, I halted my army, we would help the soldiers from the star fort clean up this mess and then I would give my soldiers a break for the night - tomorrow we would pursue the rebels and finally finish them off, at which point my rule will be solidified and I will be able to finally return to Chambery and witness my mother finally receiving her burial, and soon after that, I would receive my coronation and I would now formally become The Duchess of Savoy and also The Duchess of Monferrato - which hopefully would mean I could get a short break before further drama erupts in my life, though things could also go in the opposite direction and I would immediately be thrust into the war over Romagna, once again donning this suit of armor and, rather than marching someplace close such as Nice, I would be marching in battles as far away as places like Cagliari, Imola, Roma, or perhaps even a city as far away as Toledo or Vienna, depending on how long the war drags on and how much of an advantage we'll have.

I got off my horse and marched over to a brutally wounded noble general - we has knocked off of his horse by the barrage of cannon fire and then trampled on by his own men as they ran away retreating - I could see shards of burning hot metal imbedded in his chest, I could see his ears were bleeding after being at ground zero for a cannon ball explosion - his horse was over a meter away, its rear end turned into a bloody pulp and its rider blown clean off, now laying before me, a pathetic, barely living wretch - he was clearly crippled, though I wasn't sure if that was due to the explosion, the trampling, or likely a combination of both, and because of being knocked onto the ground and stomped on, he was bleeding out of his mouth and coughing up blood, in short, he was a corpse attempting to crawl a few inches and struggling at that, while his men and his comrades had abandoned him. I couldn't bear to look at the human cost of my actions, I couldn't bear to see what these rebels had forced me to do, I couldn't bear to see this broken and dying man desperately clinging for life as a direct result of my actions, so I grabbed my sword out of its scabbard at my hip and I put the noble general out of his misery.

* * *

The next morning my army was marching again - we had received information from a messenger that the nobles and roughly two hundred soldiers had regrouped near Monaco, intent on marching into the city and boarding vessels that would take them to Roma - they were planning an escape, most likely to His Holiness Guglielmus I, their paymaster in The Vatican - but we wouldn't let that happen, we would force their army to fight on two fronts, caught between my forces and the local Grimaldi garrison in Monaco, leaving them with two choices, they could either surrender or they could all be annihilated, the choice was all in their hands. In any case, I knew that we could crush these rebels once and for all in Monaco, however, I was much more concerned about these Papal ships - now obviously the rebel army couldn't just tell The Pope to send ships after their loss in battle, so this likely wasn't a retreat like the messenger thought it was, rather this could be reinforcements from The Pope to help overthrow me, or perhaps the nobles were always planning to retreat if their plan failed so that they could safely plot against me in the safety of Roma - now that could very well be true, because if I was the one in charge of that noble army knowing the equipment that The Duchy of Savoy has, I wouldn't have much confidence in my chances either.

Monaco and Nice were not very far apart at all, so I was confidant that we would reach Monaco before the rebel army could escape - especially given that The House of Grimaldi was loyal to us and they would not allow these rebels to enter the city without a fight, especially given that the rebels were reduced to merely a few hundred soldiers - I suppose that leaving Colonel Grimaldi in charge of Torino's levies despite my preference for Captain Ludovico was a good decision after all, assuming that his family would repay the debt they owed us after all. In any case, the plan was to force the rebel army between a rock and a hard place, and after they have been either destroyed or they have surrendered, I would go and I would deal with those Papal ships, figuring out their involvement in all of this and dealing with the consequences of their arrival, whether it be even more combat, or something a little more complicated, such as negotiations. In any case, we were heading for Monaco and we were going to finish off the enemy army - now, obviously we took some casualties in that battle, however, our casualties were minimal and we suffered no desertions after the battle, thus, as we marched those The Grimaldis' city built in the shadow of Monte Carlo, we essentially had just as many troops as we had in the first battle, whilst our enemies had dwindled and we would easily be able to crush them, especially since we would have support from within Monaco as well - the rebels had no chance, we had won The Battle of Nice and we would win again at The Battle of Monaco.

Last night, I had slept alone in a private tent sent up in that valley just north of Nice, for the first time in eight years I had to spend the night all alone, I had to twist and turn all night with nothing but a cot and a thin blanket separating my body from the ground below the tent, constantly wishing that I was in my massive, comfortable bed with Ippolita, my Italo-Grecian beauty at my side. I couldn't wait until this was all over and I could return to Chambery, where Ippolita would meet me, I don't know if I could deal with my mother's funeral and a swift coronation immediately afterwards without her at my side, however, I couldn't get sidetracked right now, as much as I missed Ippolita I still had a job to do, I had to finish off these rebels and then I had deal with all the repercussions of this uprising - I wanted the people to love me, however, I also needed to make sure the nobles knew their place so that this wouldn't happen again, so, despite my best wishes, I had to make them fear me first...but could I make them both fear me and love me? The great philosophers of The Renaissance say that a ruler needs to be both feared and loved, however, philosophy is one thing, and reality is another, but perhaps I could strive for this particular ideal, perhaps I could neutralize the nobility and then I could win them over with kindness - these particular nobles are the ones rebelling, but I wasn't stupid, I knew that there was more nobles who wanted the exact same thing but they were smart enough to realize that they stood no chance against The Savoyard army itself - after all, all these nobles paid money to their liege, therefore my army was funded with money that therefore isn't being spent on their own levies, and, my army was designed to engage in international conflicts against other professional armies, while these noble levies existed only to defend their liege's holdings, thus, even in relatively impressive numbers like this consortium of nobles managed to muster, their army was no much to something like The Savoyard army.

When we reached Monaco we witnessed that the rebel army still hadn't managed to break into Monaco - perfect, everything was going exactly to plan and we would be able to force the rebels between a rock and a hard place, just like I had intended - I stopped my army and observed the scene ahead of me, obviously the noble army had to be aware of our presence but they were still focused on besieging Monaco - it seems that at this point the rebels knew that any attempt to fight was futile and instead they were fully focused on their attempts to escape, however, I wasn't sure why they were trying to escape out of Monaco rather than out of Nice, perhaps they were hoping that they would be able to breach Monaco early in the morning before my army could arrive, given that we decided to rest outside of Nice, meanwhile if they had retreated into Nice itself, we would pursue them immediately, so perhaps they were just a little too confidant in their ability to break into Monaco, which makes sense given that this army is the very one that figured they could rise up against us to begin with. In any case, to begin this Battle of Monaco, I gave the order for my cavalry to charge them - now, The Duchy of Savoy didn't have all that many horses for cavalry, but we had enough to maintain some elite units, including the ones that were accompanying my army as we worked to stomp this rebellion into oblivion.

I watched as my cavalry charged at the army from behind, the rebels tried to turn their forces around before the horsemen could reach them, but they made the move far too late and once again the nobles and their pathetic army was getting torn apart, and, before the cavalry was even finished with their assault, I ordered my infantry units to move forward in their pike squares - against these few rebel soldiers, cavalry would not be necessary, especially since we would be firing towards Monaco and could risk damaging a city that has been our loyal subject ever since the area came under our control. I watched as more and more of the rebel army was destroyed until I saw the nobles tear down one of their flags and lower the others, they rapidly replaced the torn down flag with a plain white banner, I watched as a noble soldier frantically waived his flagpole, the white banner clear in the sky - the nobles had surrendered. I order my soldiers to stand down and I moved over to the rebel army myself - I remained on the back of my horse in order to maintain a height advantage and visually have a position of power over the nobles I would soon meet face to face.

A noble general got down from his horse and accepted his subservient position, we walked forward from his remaining comrades and their soldiers to make it clear that he was representing the whole group - he would be the one at the negotiating table.

"My Marchioness!" He yelled "We surrender!"

"Marchioness?" I asked, stone-faced and still sat mightily on my horse.

"My...My Duchess!" The noble corrected himself "I humbly ask for negotiations in Monaco mediated by Pope Guglielmus I!"

"Surrender your arms and disband your army." I commanded and he gave the orders, I watched as his soldiers surrendered their pikes, swords, and arquebuses in a large pile and then I had their armies lineup single file and had a detachment of my soldiers march off and escort these now unarmed few hundred soldiers back to Nice, the few remaining noble generals remained here along with their chosen representative - I knew that they wanted to bicker with each other and shift blame upon each other, however, more than that, they didn't want me to witness that, so for now, the stood awkwardly giving short glares at each other, clearly not trusting each other and not trusting their chosen representative very much either. So, the nobles now wanted negotiations mediated by The Pope, which means that Guglielmus I was most likely their paymaster and the man truly responsible for all of this, and I suppose those Papal ships were his own vessels and they were taking him to Monaco, either to congratulate and pay his successful rebels, or to fix the mess they caused - now, the main combatant on our side is Milano, they're the one who wants to conquer Romagna itself - mainly because The Duchy of Milan is ruled by The House of Sforza and The Sforza also rule over holdings in Romagna such as Forli and Imola, so essentially, The Milanese Sforza wanted to unite the family's lands - however, Savoy was just as strong, if not stronger than Milano, and, if The Pope could use our nobles as puppets, who in turn intended to have my brother Pietro di Savoia as their puppet, then The Pope would effectively be able to control Savoy when war erupted, which would be absolutely crucial, as, due to Savoy's location, Milano would be locked in a two front war against The Papal States in Romagna and against us in Novara - The County of Novara is culturally and politically Milanese, however, geographically it is part of Piemonte and historically The County used to answer to The Duke of Monferrato, therefore, if we flipped sides, that would be our battleground, and also, if we were allied to The Papacy, we could then move our armies to the west and help keep The French out of Italia, along with The Spaniards in Franco-Condado, therefore, I could see why His Holiness and his Spanish allies would want to support this rebellion and bring Savoy onto their side as a puppet state controlled by the nobility, thankfully, we managed to avoid that and hopefully we could use this opportunity to calm tensions over Romagna, at least temporarily.

* * *

"Greetings Duchess Teresa," Pope Guglielmus I greeted as he entered the room we would be negotiating in at The Palazzo di Grimaldi in Monaco, he was indeed on one of the two ships that entered the port of Monaco.

"Hello your excellency," I paid respect to The Pope, he may be on the opposite end of this whole Romagna situation, however, he was still the head of my religion and he was here to mediate the negotiations between myself and the rebellious nobles, or at least that was the official stance on the matter, however, I was very much expecting that, realistically, these negotiations would be between myself and Guglielmus, the nobles were merely pawns in a game that really didn't even involve Savoy at all in the grand scheme of things, really, it didn't involve anyone in Italia, this upcoming war was only between Italians in name, this was a war between France, Spain, and Austria to see who was the strongest power on the continent, and they were using us as a pretext to do so, nothing more - now, I doubted any of those three great powers were going to use all their resources for this war, rather they were just going to get a taste of their enemy's power, all of them would be playing their cards close to their chest and saving their true power for their own war - such as France seizing Spain's Burgundians holdings because Burgundy formally was a vassal of France before The Duke's territory was split between France and Spain, Austria could also want a piece as the Burgundian territory in Spanish hands was formally part of The Holy Roman Empire and thus, The Emperor, who was Archduke of Austria, would want to reconquer that land and keep The Holy Roman Empire as large as possible, especially given that The Italian states all left The Empire because of the increasingly German nature of The Holy Roman Empire, where the only Elector who wasn't German was Bohemia, a Slavic Kingdom, but even then the German Electors have always been opposed to Bohemia being an Elector precisely because they are not a German state, all the while our Italian states, despite being among the largest, richest, and most powerful entities within The Empire, had no electoral privileges or any sort of gratitude for our membership in The Holy Roman Empire, so finally, as The 16th Century was upon us, all The Italian states left that entity and now, almost seven decades later, I can say that Savoy and Milano have no regrets over our departure from that German Empire increasingly dominated by The Austrian House of Habsburg.

"So," He began as we sat down at the negotiating table, the noble representative was with him, Lord Giancarlo of Monaco. The Patriarch of The House of Grimaldi, was with me - just like I had predicted the negotiations were really between myself and The Pope "You're a smart woman Teresa di Savoia, I'm sure you've realized that I was the one responsible for this rebellion."

"Indeed I did," I replied to his admission.

"Yes, and the nobles failed me - you crushed them, you exposed every flaw of my plan and you now hold information that can ruin my international reputation, especially given that the heretics are already imbedding themselves in Germania. In short, I know when I'm beaten and I have forged terms that we may all find agreeable, would you like to hear my proposals?" he asked, laying out various documents in front of him.

"I'm listening," I replied, I was eager to hear what he had come up with, now, as always in negotiations I'm sure he'll propose terms much more agreeable to himself rather than to myself, and I know that what I want will be absolutely unacceptable from his point of view, so he'll propose what he wants, I'll propose what I want, and from there we'll move to someplace in the middle and come up with a satisfactory compromise.

"Firstly, I will give you my blessing for your coronation, the position is your birthright and my word shall silence any other critics who may favor your brother. Secondly, I shall raise The Archbishop of Bishop, Father Bianchi, to the rank of Patriarch, thus creating The Patriarchate of Torino, sharing rank and privilege with The Patriarchs of Venezia, Lisbon, Warsaw, and The West Indies, and finally, I promise that neither myself, nor The Spanish, shall support any more uprisings in Savoy, Milan, France, or Naples, nor will either of us declare war on you and your allies for as long as I live" The Pope was very fair with what he was giving and I appreciated all of it, his blessing will certainly help solidify my position as Duchess, and, when time comes for my formal coronation, it's much more prestigious to be crowned by Patriarch Bianchi rather than by Archbishop Bianchi, additionally, he formally promised not to declare war, which is to be expected as he already controls Romagna and thus has no reason to declare war, Pope Guglielmus and I would still negotiate a little, however I had already gotten what I wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for all the run-on sentences in this story, that was kind of a feature of my writing at the time. My sentences still tend to be on the longer side, but I think I have improved on this area since writing this story. Anyway, I hope you can see the story and the potential in all of this despite the flaws.


	13. One Duchess Buried and Another Crowned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a Duchess wouldn't necessarily be crowned, I know that now, but this chapter includes a coronation scene. I suppose that, if it really bothers you, you could think of the Duchy of Savoy gaining certain royal privileges due to being a strong, Italian state, similar to privileges the Grand Duchy of Tuscany would gain in real life. In any case, in future stories, I'll be more particular with coronation scenes.

Act III.

The Duchess of Savoy and Monferrato.

Chapter XIII.

One Duchess Buried and Another Crowned.

* * *

I returned to Chambery victorious, the noble rebellion was crushed and I had Pope Guglielmus' word that neither he, nor his Spanish allies would be the ones to declare war, now, he was quite old by now, however, this promise was still very much worthwhile, as this gave us a sense of security, this meant that I could concentrate on my mother's funeral and on my coronation soon after. I was still quite concerned that a war over Romagna may erupt soon regardless, if Austria sees a moment of weakness as we here in Savoy are recovering and Spain potentially lets their guard down given that my alliance is effectively in a truce with their alliance - I would not be involved in raising arms against Pope Guglielmus I after all that he gave me and The Duchy as a whole in the form of an apology over all the messy business that occurred with the succession crisis. In Chambery I would be crowned Duchess of Savoy, Princess of Piemonte, Countess of Nice, Countess of Vaud, Countess of Valais, and Countess of Liguria, meanwhile, I would journey to Casale Monferrato and I would be crowned as Duchess of Monferrato - while realistically we were only known as The Duchy of Savoy, we were also The Dukes of Monferrato, so, despite The Duchy of Monferrato being much smaller, much less powerful, and was annexed by Savoy decades ago, the title of Duchess of Monferrato was legally equal to the title of Duchess of Savoy, and thus that title deserved its very own coronation in its own capital, crowned by its own clergy, thus, I would oblige. I was happy to hold two Duchy titles, and I would be even happier if I could one day become a Queen, forming a powerful Savoyard Kingdom - perhaps, when this war over Romagna inevitably erupts, this Kingdom can raise from the ashes, ideally, alongside a Milanese Kingdom for our Sforza allies, this would legally bring us to the same status as France, Naples, and Spain - The Pope was superior to all Kings and Emperors because he represents the word of God, something far more important than any royal bloodline - and technically superior to The Archduke of Austria - however, The Archduke is also Holy Roman Emperor and is now also The King of Hungary, thus, he personally controls a vast realm stretching from The Alps to The Carpathian Mountains, and, as Holy Roman Emperor, he legally controls all of Germania as well, though, realistically, The Holy Roman Emperor will only be able to use his own Austrian and Hungarian troops in this war.

Now, realistically I was already Duchess of both, however, coronations were a necessary formality, besides, I have no complaints about being honored at such an event and experiencing such a celebration. My army had mostly dispersed, going to their individual stations by the time I reached The Chateau de Chambery, however, a contingent of soldiers remained with me, taking me to our capital building and giving me an arrival worthy of a soon-to-be Duchess. I was looking forward to beginning my reign, I had only just turned twenty-four years old and I had lived a healthy lifestyle thus far - and a certain aspect of my lifestyle meant that I certainly wasn't going to die of childbirth or anything like that - and I had a feeling that I would live a long life ahead of me, and hopefully Ippolita would live just as long and remain my lifelong lover and companion. Perhaps if things remained as peaceful as they are now, once all this funeral and coronation business dies down, as well as the repercussions for this vassal uprising, once all of that dies down, Ippolita and I could take the opportunity to visit the major sights and cities of The Duchy of Savoy, thus far we've been to Torino and Chambery together, but I could also take her to places like Casale Monferrato, Albenga and Monaco in Liguria, to Ginevra in The Canton of Vaud, and, if it's safe to journey there, we can go to Nice as well. I certainly wanted to go to all these places with Ippolita, honestly, I would go anywhere with Ippolita if I could, from the unknown reaches of The New World to the very heart and soul of Europe's enemy in Mecca, however, the fact is that Ippolita and I won't be able to travel very far at all, because I'll be preoccupied with ruling The Duchy of Savoy, and right now, especially with the threat of war constantly lingering over head, I couldn't trust The Duchy to a regent while Ippolita and I went travelling to our hearts' content, no, I had to be at the reins of The Savoyard Crown Lands at every possible moment, or else everything my family has built over the past few centuries may crumble before my eyes - my mother told me not to trust my cousins, uncles, and other family members because of how they tried to treat her during the beginning of her reign, and I knew not to trust the nobility because of how they treated me at the beginning of my reign - it seems that, while our people were happy with their way of life under our House and didn't want to risk being caught under foreign rule, our nobility and my family cared more about personal gain than they cared about whatever is the best for the people whom they are supposed to rule over. I would rather have the support of the people than the support of the nobles and of my cousins, because the people were far more numerous, the people were the ones who actually made up our army - if you trust your army in the hands of the nobility, then your army ends up crushed like the rebel army I defeated in Nice and in Monaco - and, if the people liked me, then the nobles wouldn't have anyone to raise up against me, thus, in an ideal world, I would be safe from any other noble uprisings like I had just dealt with.

I arrived at The Chateau de Chambery still dressed in my suit of armor and still riding my white horse when I saw a carriage right outside, and, more importantly, next to the carriage was Ippolita waiting patiently as her servants brought her things inside - well some of those were my things, Ippolita was gracious enough to bring everything important from our bedroom here to Chambery - I had a feeling that we would be here for awhile, between the funeral, the coronation, getting adjusted to my new position, and just waiting for an excuse that I can properly move the capital to Torino - after all eight of those years, I'm feel more at home at The Palazzo di Torino alongside Ippolita than I do here at The Chateau de Chambery, despite the fact that I was born and raised in Chambery - however, even then I spent most of my summers at our estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, the very same estate where Isabelle and I had our fling all those years ago that lead to both of us discovering our true sexuality, and, even though I'm not with Isabelle anymore, without that fling with her, I wouldn't have known what I really wanted and I probably never would've gotten together with Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato.

I got off my horse and let one of my servants take her to the stables, meanwhile I headed directly for Ippolita - I wished that I could kiss her but we were far too public right now, in front of the entire Chateau de Chambery surrounded by various servants either attending to myself and the arriving soldiers, or attending to Ippolita and her carriage, in any case, I would have to settle for a hug for now - I walked over to my Italo-Grecian beauty and grabbed her, pulling her close and feeling her body against mine, wishing that this damn armor wasn't in between us but I would have to make do for now, I was stressed out from having to deal with that rebellion in Nice, I had to see my own mother being buried a mere eight years after my father died, despite neither of them being particularly old, though I suppose that the stress and the weight of a Duchy on your shoulders may take years off of a lifetime - for better or worse, I was about to find out - and that was the third thing, I went from governing Torino, a city in Piemonte and some of the surrounding area to governing the entire Duchy of Savoy - this was quite a leap, especially given all that's going in on Italia and beyond, and I didn't know if I was necessarily up for the task, however, I suppose that there's only one way to find out if I'm ready or not, and that's actually trying my hand at being Duchess of Savoy and Monferrato - I had already managed to deal with the uprising in Nice, but would I be able to deal with the problems of places as far away as Liguria and Vaud properly? Would I be able to keep control of The Duchy as the war over Romagna erupts? I didn't know, even in complete peace time, I had to deal with a noble uprising because they figured if they could overthrow me and use fear of doing it again to control Pietro, of course all of this is under the pretense that, since I have a brother, he should be Duke simply because he exists and Agnatic succession is the norm throughout Europe, however, the norm does not concern us, my mother raised me to become Duchess while she raised Pietro to be able to support me in any way possible, which is part of the reason why Pietro has become an artist and a swordsman while I've become an administrator and a Marchioness, though now, given that I will not be having any children whatsoever, I turn to Pietro to make him my heir in turn, and thus honoring the promise I made to my mother when I came out of the closest to her all those years ago. In any case, Ippolita and I were still standing next to her carriage and sharing a long hug, though neither of us were in any particular issue to break away from one another.

"I missed you Ippolita," I whispered as we continued to hug.

"I missed you too," Ippolita replied before breaking away slightly but putting her hands on my shoulders and looking me in the eyes "How did it go?"

"Pope Guglielmus I was backing the noble rebels, but the nobles didn't use that aid effectively, their army was just their local levies united in mass, they didn't even have any cavalry or artillery. We beat them in Nice and then the next day we defeated them just outside of Monaco, then His Holiness himself arrived and admitted his part in all this, we negotiated, and in the end, I came out with a promise of peace for as long as he lives." I gave her the main details now, I would give her the full story a little later when we had a moment of free time together.

"What about The Austrians?" Ippolita asked, she spent enough time around me that she knew all about Savoy's political, economic, and military position, and I was proud of her too - she knew a lot and she wanted to learn even more about how everything works - on one hand, it was great for my family that we had annexed The Duchy of Monferrato and solidified our position as the dominant power in northwestern Italia, however, I could also see that, if Ippolita had the chance to be Duchess of Monferrato, she would be able to do amazing things in the territory - she was smart, she was eager, and she was so incredibly interested in all the affairs of The Duchy of Savoy - the stereotypes would say that anyone else in Ippolita's position would be totally clueless about things like politics and war, but with my Italo-Grecian beauty, that simply isn't true, and she is certainly fit for the position - if we win the war over Romagna and I earn many new possessions to govern, such as my father's rightful lands in Ferrara and Modena, and Spain's Italian territory in Sardinia and Corsica, then I won't necessarily be able to govern everything properly, and, in that event, I could make Ippolita the Vicereine of Monferrato, thus Monferrato would once again by in the hands of The Cadet Branch of The House of Paleologo, though this time as a Viceroyalty of The House of Savoy rather than as an independent Duchy.

"I don't know," I admitted "I wouldn't think that they would want to be the ones to start the fight, The Habsburgs are shrewd - they didn't go from Swiss counts to Holy Roman Emperors by making dumb moves, I think that they'll watch and wait, jumping into the fight once they see a moment of weakness from either our alliance or The Papal-Spanish alliance."

"So you think it'll be peaceful for now?" Ippolita asked.

"Well, it seems things will be as peaceful as Europe can be in this day and age." I replied, I figured that the most likely way for this war to start is for us to declare war on The Papal States and Spain once we see a moment of weakness, now Austria would likely do the exact same thing and we would unofficially be at war with them because we both want to take the same land - though I'm sure that, at certain points during this war, especially if things drag on, and one side seems to be getting a particularly decisive advantage, I imagine that any of the two alliances could temporarily join forces in an attempt to crush the third force, and I'm sure that even as the war goes on - actually, especially as the war goes on - everyone involved in the war will try to drag other countries into the war in order to secure a massive advantage - England would be the main focus of these, as they are a great power of western Europe and have the resources and ships to move an army to Italia, and don't really have any significant threats against them given that England has been pushed off of The European Mainland by The French in The Hundred Years War - I suppose that England may try and declare war on Scotland or on one of the various Irish states across The Isles, however, that's unlikely given that England already maintains dominance over The British Isles, however outside factors such as France and The Scandinavian Kingdoms tried to prevent England from expanding - Norway controls The Orkneys, Shetland, and The Faroes, all of whom are just north of Scotland so it isn't necessarily unfathomable that England's next target after Scotland would be Norway's islands, as for Denmark, well The Danish King is ambitious beyond his means, still considering himself the rightful heir to both Norway and Sweden due to the now defunct Kalmar Union, Denmark remembers an era where they had the strongest navy in Europe, where they had ambitions to rule Pomerania, Livonia, and much, much more of The Baltic Coastline, and at one point, Denmark even had the many of the minor Anglo-Saxon Petty Kingdoms paying them tribute, something that The Danes would definitely want again. In any case, those Scandinavian Kingdoms would also serve as very effective additions to any alliance, though I'd imagine they are too busy bickering with each other over which bit of frozen wasteland belongs to which Kingdom - Scandinavia was especially cold at this point and I couldn't imagine that any of these Kingdoms were too well off at this point, Norway's holdings in Iceland are dwindling and there are rumors that The Norwegians had once reached a frozen part of The New World centuries ago, however, the shift to colder and colder weather, which was even noticed as far south as Torino, has lead to any Norwegian territory beyond Iceland being completely abandoned.

In any case, The Pope had promised us peace for as long as he lives and I would ensure that my French, Neapolitan, and Milanese allies won't declare war either - I was not going to stab His Holiness in the back, especially not since Guglielmus I had been so generous with his gifts as an apology for the uprising - he gave us a Patriarchate in Torino, a position only shared with Portugal - The Patriarchate of Lisbon, Spain - The Patriarchate of The West Indies, and Venice - The Patriarchate of Venezia, needless to say this was a major honor, an honor that even France, the biggest and strongest Catholic nation in Europe didn't have, an honor that Austria, The Holy Roman Emperors, didn't have, this was a huge deal, and it made Savoy even more significant as a mere Duchy - Portugal and Spain were both Kingdoms, and while Venezia was a Republic, thanks to its holdings along The Adriatic Coast and in Greece, if Venezia were to be a monarchy, the would almost certainly be a Kingdom simply because of their power and their prestige, even if most of that power and prestige came from a long gone era when The Mediterranean was dominated almost entirely by The Italian Republics of Genoa and Venezia, who would trade with everyone from Spain to The Ottoman Empire, but now this honor is dissipating. France, Spain, and we here in Savoy are increasing dominating trade in The Western Mediterranean - Spain because they still ruled over Sardinia and Corsica and, until rather recent wars against the now independent Kingdom of Naples, they controlled Sicily and Malta, France because they intended to replace Spain's status in The Western Mediterranean, having a significant coastline themselves, and a bitter rivalry with Spain - and England and Austria for that matter - as for us, we ruled over Liguria and had ambitions to conquer Genoa itself, thus we wanted to fill their shoes as a naval power in The Western Mediterranean, and also, we intended to rule over Sardinia and Corsica because they were culturally and historically Italian - Genoa once ruled over Corsica before they were conquered by Spain, and Sardinia before The Aragonese was a series of independent Counties ruled by Italians, having had shaken off their former Byzantine rulers and established independent Sardinian states for perhaps the first time since before even The Roman Empire itself, but that could not last forever, especially as The Aragonese expanded outside of Spain when it became clear that Castille would get the vast majority of the remaining land still held by Moorish invaders, so The Aragonese would soon become rulers of Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta, and they would place their dynasty on The Neapolitan throne after the fall of The House d'Anjou - the original House d'Anjou, not The House de Valois-Anjou which Isabelle is part of, and it is a cadet branch of The House de Valois, however, both The House d'Anjou and The House de Valois originate from the old House of Capet - I'm sure there has been quite a bit of inbreeding between various cadet-branches of The Capetians, even today Isabelle has unwilling been married off to her cousin, a French Prince, in any case, The Aragonese had come to ruler over Sardinia and, now that Aragon has been absorbed by Castille into Spain under The House of Borgia, The Spanish now rule Sardinia, and when this war over Romagna erupts, The Duchy of Savoy would very much want to be the one who conquers Sardinia and Corsica, perhaps even taking the Medieval title of The Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica, or more likely we'll create a new title incorporating our holdings on The Italian mainland, but perhaps it's a bit too earlier to be thinking of what titles we could create out of a war when that war hasn't even been declared, let alone fought and won, especially given that a temporary peace is declared for as long as Pope Guglielmus I still lives - though we can't exactly be sure how long that would be, and we have no idea who would be chosen as his successor.

* * *

I stood at the entrance to the throne room of The Chateau de Chambery, nervous yet excited about what was about to happen - I know that I'm already Duchess of Savoy in every way except formally, however, a coronation was still a huge event, even if its actual effect was small - nothing is stopping me from acting as Duchess right now despite not being formally crowned, I had already acted as Duchess in leading our troops against the rebelling nobility in Nice and in negotiating with His Holiness The Pope himself in Monaco, however, that was only because everyone knew that I had to deal with this rebellion as soon as possible, I knew that right now I was accepted as Duchess of Savoy, I had already brought down everyone who isn't openly opposed to me, but without a coronation, rivals outside of The Duchy - The Spaniards, The Papacy, and The Habsburgs in particular - may not accept me as a Duchess for much longer at all - coronation was a necessary practice and it was the only way that a royal would be taken seriously in the long term - until The Church proclaims you a Duke or Duchess, a King or Queen, even an Emperor or Empress, you are not legally that position, merely a pretender to the throne, and you would have to be a fool to think that your rivals wouldn't notice that and try and take advantage of the situation. There was no reason for me to waste time and energy trying to change this practice when I had The Patriarch of Torino, Marco Bianchi grateful and ready to crown me and I had so many strong enemies to deal with - I was told that The Papal States and Spain wouldn't start the war for as long as Pope Guglielmus I lived but The Habsburgs had no such guarantee, and, while they didn't often start wars without a clear advantage, they would seize any chance to gain a territory - I'm sure that there is some member of The House of Habsburg married to someone who had a claim to The Duchy of Savoy and I'm sure that if I intentionally compromised my own position as Duchess, The Habsburgs would find a member of their dynasty who had just barely enough of a claim to Savoy that The Habsburgs could rest easy putting their relative on the throne. That wouldn't happen, I was going to solidify my position as much as I possibly could, taking advantage of the peaceful conditions, so, I took a deep breath and tried to collect myself as I heard Patriarch Marco I beginning the coronation ceremony - there were tons of guests, anyone who was anyone in The Duchy of Savoy was here, and some guests of honor from abroad - unfortunately, Isabelle couldn't make it and neither could her father, as The Jerusalemite Princess has come down with some sort of sickness...I hope she'll be okay.

"Are you ready Teresa?" Ippolita asked me, referring to the coronation.

"I guess I was born ready," I grinned, jokingly referring to my inheritance of the position.

"Haha," she chuckled "But seriously, this is the event of a lifetime, but don't worry, I'll be there, watching you every step of the way, Pietro will be there, not to mention guests from as far away as Naples and Utrecht."

"I know," I sighed "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied and we shared a quick kiss before I prepared myself to finally enter the throne room for my coronation, preparing myself to finally legally become The Duchess of Savoy, the last formality in my path towards earning my maternal birthright.

"People of The Duchy of Savoy," Patriarch Marco I began after he finished his Latin prayers, this was the start of the actual coronation part of the whole ceremony "One week ago we mourned the loss of Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II and laid her to rest in The Savoyard Crypt, but before invitations for her funeral could even be sent, rebellious nobles tried to seize the opportunity to turn The Duchy into a puppet of the nobility, who were in turn a puppet to Roma, but before these rebels could enact their vicious schemes, a heroine rose up in our borders. A heroine assembled an overwhelming army and bravely lead her troops into Nice and defeated the army in just two days, forcing them out of Nice and crushing them outside of Monaco - this heroine has already led our armies, this heroine has already spent eight years presiding over our largest city, and this heroine has even negotiated with Pope Guglielmus I in person - she is the reason why we have peace in The Duchy of Savoy, she is the reason why The Archdiocese of Torino has now become The Patriarchate of Torino, she is the reason why Torino is the greatest city in all of Savoy, and perhaps even all of Italia. The Savoyard throne is her birthright, but I can think of no better person to become The Duchess of Savoy, I present to you, Teresa di Savoia, The Marchioness of Torino, The rightful Duchess of Ferrara and Modena, The Heiress to The Duchy of Savoy, The Principality of Piemonte, The County of Nice, The Canton of Vaud, The Canton of Valais, and The County of Liguria, I welcome Teresa I di Savoia, who shall be our new Duchess."

I walked into the throne room, passing by benches of hundreds and hundreds of people giving me applause, I was heading for the elevated steps near the throne where I would be crowned before taking the throne. I was wearing a grand red dress with pink and blue trim, my straight black hair was perfectly arranged just behind my shoulders and I wore nothing on my head - not even my Circlet of Torino - as I was about to wear the coronation crown of The Duchy of Savoy. A few things about The Patriarch's speech, first of all, I was very grateful for all his praise, however, much of that is exaggerated, because this is my coronation after all, but in reality, the victories in Nice and Monaco are more down to my mother's work at forming a well armed and diverse professional army, including top-of-the-line pikemen infantry, modern hussarian cavalry - modeled on The Polish-Lithuanian horsemen who proved so effective against The Ottomans in the many, many wars between The Ottoman Empire and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including The Great Crusade which reestablished The Kingdom of Jerusalem under Isabelle's father, brother to The Duke of Provence and cousin to The King of France - and our army also had very modern artillery, which proved to be the decisive factor in our battles against the rebellious nobility. Additionally, Torino isn't quite yet the greatest city in Italia, The Palazzo di Torino, especially with my recent renovations, was the greatest palace in Italia, however, Torino itself still lagged behind Roma, Venezia, and Milano, but I was closing the gap rather rapidly, and I could continue doing that, even if for now I would be ruling from Chambery. I reached the steps around the throne and climbed up, standing next to Patriarch Marco I and I finally turned to see all the guests within the throne room.

I looked at my various guests, I could see that the guests of honor included all the members of our alliance - I saw Filippo Maria II Sforza, The young twenty-two year old Duke of Milan, only the fourth of The House of Sforza after Filippo Galeazzo, the bastard son of Filippo Maria I Visconti and the progenitor of The House of Sforza, then Galeazzo Maria I, and finally his son, Galeazzo Maria II; I saw King Rene III of France with a small group of Swiss guards around him and his son, Dauphin Rene de Valois; I saw Carlo II Gonzaga, who was The Duke of Mantua and a close ally to The Duchy of Milan; and I saw King Ferrante II of Naples with his twin daughters, Caterina and Cornelia. I saw that they were all here, and I had no doubt that each of them was aware of that too, so I imagine that after the coronation ceremony, we would all be meeting face to face to discuss all these recent developments when it comes to the Romagna situation, after all a lot happened between myself and Pope Guglielmus I, not to mention the fact that I haven't ever had a chance to properly meet with my allies King Rene III, King Ferrante II, Duke Carlo II, and Duke Filippo Maria II, so this was going to be a proper introduction and a brief strategic meeting, however, I imagined that this wouldn't be all that serious quite yet, it was just my coronation after all, and we effectively had a guarantee of peace - though if we or The Spanish let our guard down too much, then Austria will be forced to seize the day - The Habsburgs prefer not to declare war, they always preferred to gain land by diplomatic means, political marriage first and foremost, however, that certainly did not mean that The Habsburgs were pacifists, they were quite good at war - especially since they now had the great Hungarian Army under their control, including their famous hussars, which are much lighter and faster than the more heavily armed and armored Polish hussars that my cavalry is modeled after - hardened from conflicts with The Ottoman Empire and The Venetians, who recently attempted to reconquer Trentino from The Austrians but they were repelled and forced to abandon all their claims to Trentino and to provide a hefty tribute to The Habsburgs, but, The Habsburgs were effectively alone, their only ally was Ferrara and Modena, who were currently ruled by an usurper Habsburg cadet-branch who used weak claims to seize the land from my grandfather after his death, saying that my father Gianmaria The Pious disinherited himself with his attempts to join a monastery after his first wife's death, despite the fact that Gianmaria didn't go through with it precisely because of his father's lack of a proper heir besides his eldest son, in any case, I intended to take back The House d'Este's lands because, even if I didn't actively use the d'Este name, I was still part of their dynasty, even if the terms of my mother's marriage favored her dynasty because Savoy is much larger than Ferrara and because The House d'Este was so desperate that there would at least be someone Italian on their throne, however, The Habsburgs would not take no for an answer, and without Milanese, French, and Neapolitan aid, we could not resist the combined might of The Archduchy of Austria and The Kingdom of Hungary, along with whatever members of The Holy Roman Empire they could drag into that conflict, since technically we would be the aggressor since The Habsburgs managed to arrange a coronation, but now, the situation has changed and we could finally retake my rightful lands in Ferrara and Modena, but before I could do all that, I had to be crowned Duchess of Savoy.

I bowed my head and Patriarch Marco I lowered the coronation crown of The Duchy of Savoy - the coronation crown was a purely ceremonial object, it was a gold open crown with a shield of the simplified Savoyard coat of arms - essentially the same as our current coat of arms, simply without the FERT on the coat of arms itself - but that doesn't mean that our dynasty's famous acronym wasn't on the crown, because to the left of the simplified Savoyard coat of arms were the letters F and E, while on the right we finished off the acronym with a R and a T. The coronation crown wasn't especially flashy, nor would it necessarily stand up as a crown worthy for a Duchy if it was made just now, however, the coronation crown originates from The High Middle Ages and every Duke or Duchess of Savoy has wore that crown at their coronation since then - with the single exception of Giovanna Vittoria I, because she was merely ruling as a regent while her young son was the actual Duke of Savoy, however, my mother, Giovanna Vittoria II was crowned with this crown before me, unlike her namesake, and here I was, following in her footsteps at the young age of twenty-four, with my whole life ahead of me and a hunger to make the strongest state in Italia, a state that is rich, powerful, and serves as an example to everyone in Italia and well beyond, I wanted to create a Kingdom and usher in a Savoyard golden age, I wanted to usurp Genoa's former status as the premier trading power in The Ligurian Sea and the whole Western Mediterranean beyond, I wanted to consolidate the lands that are rightfully mine, I wanted to maintain Savoy's diplomatic relations and alliances, as well as forging new ones, and, most of all, I wanted to make my mother and my father proud.

It would be no easy task, especially with that whole Romagna situation, but I had powerful allies on my side, and, more importantly than any general or ally, I knew that, no matter what happened, Ippolita would be there for me, to either congratulate me for my victories or to help bring me back up from my defeats, Ippolita was my Italo-Grecian beauty, and, no matter what would happen once the declarations of war go out, I knew that my enemies would never have an answer to what she could do for me, she was my secret weapon, and with her in my camp, I would always be able to rebound from any defeat, even if my armies or my allies couldn't necessarily do the same. I didn't think that such an event would occur to us though, because, for the most part, our alliance is strong - Milano, Savoy, Naples, and France were the core players of our alliance, but we did also have Mantua on our side, though admittedly Mantua is so small and so heavily linked with The Duchy of Milan militarily, that, in terms of this war, they were practically irrelevant, and we also had a vague agreement with Jerusalem that The Kingdom of Jerusalem would indeed provide us with a few ships as necessary, though this wasn't specific enough, nor guaranteed enough, that I thought that we could necessarily depend on such a vague agreement, especially in scenarios such as this one where everyone is in one place ready to hold a meeting and determine what our plans would be and The King of Jerusalem cannot even spare the time to attend a coronation, especially given that it's the coronation of his daughter's former lover - granted, he doesn't know that we're lovers and also, the last letters I've gotten from Isabelle, as well as general news from The Holy Land indicates that Isabelle has somehow gotten sick, so I suppose that the both of them do indeed have an excuse.

"People of Savoy," Patriarch Marco I began as I wore my coronation crown "I present to you, Duchess Teresa I of Savoy!"

"Thank you Patriarch," I replied as the applause died down and I would begin my own coronation speech "I have been The Marchioness of Torino since 1557 and I really reached my stride in the winter of 1558, ever since then I have done my hardest to make the city rich and beautiful, I have made Torino the center of in-land trade in Savoy, a hub where all trade from our ports in Nice, Monaco, and Albenga must go through, an in-land center of trade at the crossroads of Italia, France, and The Holy Roman Empire, I made the city rich and powerful, the crown jewel of The Principality of Piemonte. Now, my mother has died and I immediately had to crush a noble rebellion, but I have survived and I have come out of this rebellion stronger from it - Archbishop Bianchi has been elevated to the rank of a Patriarch of The Roman Catholic Church, Pope Guglielmus I has promised peace from The Papal States and his Spanish allies, and the nobility has been suppressed - now, I stand here in front of you as your new Duchess and I promise you that, I will do the same thing to The Duchy of Savoy as I did to Torino, I will work everyday to make our Duchy richer and more powerful, and I will do everything I can to usher in a golden age, not just for me, but for all of us! You have my word that Savoy will be strong, independent, and rich, we will never fall under the shadow of another country, whether they be friend or foe. Everyone knows that sooner rather than later war will erupt over Romagna, we can win it, we will win it, and we will come out of this war stronger than ever before - I promised my mother, before she died, that I would recover my father's rightful lands in Ferrara and Modena, I fully intend to make right on this promise. I am young, I am not perfect, but I will make right on each and every one of these promises! Avanti Savoia!"

"Avanti Savoia!" the crowd echoed.

* * *

My personal court of arms would be rather complex, because of the wide variety of titles under my rule, but Pietro helped me design it, painting it on a canvas as I described what I wanted. In the end, what I had was this: a basic quarterly design. The top left quarterly of my coat of arms was the flag of the Duchy of Savoy, a white cross on a red background with the letters FERT on its own quarterlies. On the bottom right quarterly would be the flag of The Duchy of Monferrato, a simple white flag with a thin red stripe along the top, these were my main two titles and thus they would be the only ones to fill a whole quarterly. The top right quarterly is when things get more complicated, I had the flag of The Principality of Piemonte - which again was essentially the simplified Savoyard flag with a three-pronged blue banner - however, this flag was bisected by the flag of The Marquisate of Torino, which was a white cross on a blue background with prancing golden bulls in all four of the quarterlies of that particular flag - which was technically the lowest rank title I had, however, it was the most important title to me because I held that title for eight years - these flags being bisected means that only half of each one was shown, however, given that both flags had a central white cross, these two flowed into each other seamlessly, except for the fact that The Principality of Piemonte had a blue banner that wasn't continued onto the other flag, but that wasn't all that much of an issue as, overall, the flag still held together quite well. The final quarterly on the bottom left was the most complicated part, one fourth of the flag was taken up by four flags, the flags of The County of Nice, The Canton of Vaud, The Canton of Valais, and The County of Liguria, these were relatively minor titles so all of them were crammed into the one remaining section of my personal coat of arms. In any case, the coat of arms was done and it included all my titles at the moment - the flag was essentially the same as my mother's coat of arms, with the sole addition that the flag of The Principality of Piemonte was bisected by the flag of The Marquisate of Torino, which didn't even appear on my mother's coat of arms, since she had handed down the title to me.

"It is done," Pietro said when he finished the painting.

"Good, I like it," I replied, pleased with the results.

"Alright, I can make arrangements to make it official." my brother replied.

"Good, we'll unveil it at my coronation in Monferrato," I was now officially Duchess of Savoy, however, I wasn't yet officially crowned as Duchess of Monferrato, that particular coronation would occur in Casale Monferrato, the de jure capital of The Duchy which now inhabits the lower right quarterly of my coat of arms.

"Great," he replied, getting up from his seat just behind his canvas, we were currently in his personal studio and it was the day after my coronation as Duchess of Savoy, many of my guests had remained here after last night's ceremonies - my allies and I hadn't held our strategy meeting quite yet, that was going to happen in roughly half-an-hour once I finished up here with Pietro and made my way over to the meeting room on the third floor of The Chateau de Chambery - The Chateau was much smaller than The Palazzo di Torino, however, the main part of The Chateau de Chambery was three stories while the main part of The Palazzo di Torino was two - granted that two story building was still taller than three story Chateau de Chambery as The Chateau was built around a Medieval core while The Palazzo di Torino is a whole new building built in The Renaissance style to begin with - and then I recently gave the building a massive makeover and created something even greater - but The Chateau de Chambery was smaller - now The Chateau had experienced quite a few renovations as well but there is only so much that can be done with something like this - yet another reason why Torino is a superior capital to Chambery, however, I wasn't going to change that quite yet.

"Alright, I gotta go and meet with my allies." I replied and left Pietro's studio, heading up to meet with my allies.

"Duchess Teresa," King Rene III greeted as I entered the meeting room "Chambery is a nice little village."

"Is that so?" I asked, not quite sure what Rene was getting at.

"Yes, the people here speak French, The Palace is a Chateau, and these mountains are wonderful, I feel like I could climb your Alps and look across France." I understood now what Rene is trying to say - he is a King and I am a Duchess, by law he outranks me, and even as my ally, that didn't mean that he didn't see an opportunity here...Chambery was too French, too hard to defend, and too close to the border, the natural border between Italia and France was The Alps, and Chambery was on The French side of The Alps, as was Nice for that matter, however Nice is on the coast and at this point Nice has more in common with Ligurian Italians from Genoa, Monaco, and Albenga than it does with the people of The French Riviera.

"Aye, but you should see Torino, now that's an Italian city." Duke Filippo Maria II interjected, seeing the same thing as I was seeing, France was our ally but France was also one of those great powers that we were worried about expanding into Italia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed, the next chapter is a bit of a "calm before the storm" type where we get some fluff in before the war heavy chapters of act four.


	14. A Tour of The Duchy of Savoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter fourteen, the penultimate one of act three. I think I'm going to finish up act three this morning and then post the first of the story later today. Doing this one act at a time really helps with the monotony that is adding line breaks and centering title text over and over again.

Act III.

The Duchess of Savoy and Monferrato.

Chapter XIV.

A Tour of The Duchy of Savoy.

* * *

King Rene III of France was my ally, but he was also a very strong and ambitious King who wants to top the actions of his predecessors who pushed The English off of The European continent, annexed Brittany, split Burgundy with Spain - France took all the land that The Duke of Burgundy controlled in France, as Burgundy was officially a vasal of France, however, while France and England were distracted by fighting each other, Burgundy took the opportunity to expand into The Holy Roman Empire, expanding to The Swiss border, annexing Luxembourg, and building up a vast expanse of land in The Low Countries, expanding even further in when including their various vassals such as Holland, Flanders, and Brabant - all of that went to Spain. Rene III wanted something to add to his legacy, perhaps if the war went well he could annex the land that once belonged to The Kingdom of Navarra, a Basque Kingdom that was once in personal union with France but has since fallen from grace and been annexed by Spain, and also taking Roussillon, a region that has long gone back and forth between France and The Spanish crowns, maybe that would be enough - but I didn't think so, it seems clear that he would also want to take our territory in and around Chambery and Nice, perhaps even vassalize our entire realm if he could - now he'd wait until after the war, waiting until we are potentially weakened and drained from potentially years of fighting, promising to help rebuild us in exchange for a small yearly tribute, but then tribute turns into outright vassalizing us, and eventually, Savoy would be annexed in its entirety - or at least, that's what King Rene III of France wanted, but I couldn't let that happen, I had to make it clear that Savoy was Italian, independent, and intent on growing even stronger rather than becoming a subject to France or to anyone else in Europe - we have barely stretched our legs after being free from The Holy Roman Empire and now we already had to face our enemies in The Papal States and Austria trying to meddle in our dynastic affairs, all the while our very own ally, France, is mere miles away from my palace here at The Chateau de Chambery, and has ambitions to at least annex territory west of The Alps if not the entire Duchy of Savoy. I had a lot on my plate and I needed to do something about it, I needed to show The French that we were not a potential subject, we needed to show instead that we were a powerful and significant ally - this wasn't necessarily an easy task, France isn't considered one of the great powers for nothing, but if I was going to lead Savoy into a bright future, I needed to put The French back in their place, lest my legacy is nothing more than bending the knee to The House de Valois and becoming nothing more than yet another one of their many, many subjects.

My plan was to make Italian the sole official language of The Duchy of Savoy - removing the special privileges of The French in Chambery and Nice, as well as those of The Swiss in Vaud and Valais, but The Piedmontese and Ligurian dialects would both be allowed. The next step is to rename the two cities, Chambery would be Sciamberi, The Chateau de Chambery would become The Palazzo di Sciamberi, and Nice would be Nizza, now, I know that I have only just become Duchess of Savoy and that I had already dealt with a revolt, so maybe this wasn't the best time for such massive sweeping change, however, the circumstances left me with precious few options, and I felt that if I move the capital to Torino rather than remaining in Sciamberi now, The French could interpret that as me backing down and taking this as an invitation to occupy the region - perhaps even occupying my Swiss territory as well - I couldn't let that happen, Torino was the superior capital but I would be remaining in Sciamberi for the time being. I could make Torino the capital after the war, if we won and I managed to carve out a realm worthy of the title of Kingdom from Spanish and Habsburg territory, then I would have legal equality with France and Rene III wouldn't be able to simply vassalize me, as we would both be the rulers of Kingdoms, the only way he could come to rule over my land after that would be through some sort of inheritance or through me surrendering after a French conquest. In terms of forging that Kingdom, what I suppose should be done is that I would conquer Sardinia and Corsica from The Spanish, thus finally liberating The Italian Western Mediterranean Islands from foreign rule, and, from The Habsburgs, I would retake Ferrara and Modena, just like how I promised to my mother, and once I had that land, I could negotiate with my allies as to what we can do with it. I would definitely keep Ferrara for myself as it is on The Gulf of Venezia and was my father's main title, however, I would give Modena to Milano - thus giving them a continuous territory from Milano to Romagna - and in exchange, they would give me Novara, thus I would rule over all of Piemonte, even if Novara is culturally and historically Milanese rather than Piedmontese - though the difference isn't all that extreme, we're all Italians after all.

Things between The Duchy of Savoy and The Duchy of Milan have been going well, our goals are intertwined, we both want to push out foreigners from Italia and build up ourselves in the process, creating an Italia where a Savoyard Kingdom, a Milanese Kingdom, The Kingdom of Naples, The Papal States, and The Repubblica Serenissima di Venezia reign together, only leaving behind an independent Toscana dominated by Firenze. Now, this growth would be at the expense of smaller Italian powers such as Genoa and Mantua, however, these Ligurians being absorbed into Savoy and those Romagnans absorbed into Milano are a better fate than forever declining until a foreign power annexes them and strips them of any privileges - meanwhile, here in Savoy, when we eventually do conquer Genoa, we will take Liguria and Nice, and combine all of that into a new Duchy of Genoa, giving Genoa equal internal status with Savoy and Monferrato, as Genoa itself is larger than any city within The Duchy of Savoy, other than Torino, and is a major hub of trade in The Western Mediterranean, thus, the addition of Genoa would mean that the city would easily usurp Nizza's position as our principal port. I knew that we hadn't even gone to war with Spain and The Habsburgs over Romagna, let alone began a conquest of Genoa, but I was now realizing that I was Duchess of Savoy and I needed to start planning ahead, I've already had a very turbulent start to my rule with that noble rebellion, and, while I may have suppressed any disgruntled forces under my rule for now, I had no idea how long they would be suppressed, and I didn't know how long I would need to take in order to win them over, if I could even win over those disgruntled forces to begin with - I needed to proceed carefully, my moves need to be calculated, I need to maintain an image of strength to the international community without appearing as a tyrant to my own people, making Italian our official language and renaming our French cities was the first step, the next step would be working to calm everything down in The Duchy a little bit before I could take Ippolita out on a tour of my lands and also get crowned Duchess of Monferrato.

However, before I could go, I had to bring order to Sciamberi, so I sat down in The Savoyard throne and held court as Duchess of Savoy, I briefly smiled at Ippolita who was quietly standing on the left side of the room while the people who wished to speak to me stood on right side, I took a deep breath, relaxed in my throne, and I called court into session and let the guests begin their various complaints and requests.

"My Duchess," began the first guest, an officer with a clear French accent "My name is General Maximillien Archambault, I am in command of Ch-I mean, Sciamberi's troops, I am here to report that I have begun efforts to teach my troops Italian, however, until we do that, the local soldiers, and likely those in Nizza as well, will still have to conduct business in French, I apologize but the troops simply do not know Italian yet, I will be doing my best to fix that as soon as possible, but it will take time and effort."

"I understand General, keep doing what you're doing." I replied, I was well aware that the shift to Italian would have many, many bumps in the road when it comes to day-to-day operation of Sciamberi and Nizza, but I was glad that things were at very least were heading that way, and I'm sure that King Rene III of France would notice - he's no fool, he'll see what I've done and he'll be well aware of the timing, but he's also too smart to abandon any of our relationships, because he wants to crush his enemies in Spain and Austria, and abandoning allies such as Savoy, a country that's very powerful for a Duchy, is not a wise decision with a war against Spain and Austria on the horizon.

"Thank you my Duchess, good bye," The General bowed and left, having spoken his piece and evidently not caring about whatever the other guests and courtiers were here for.

"My Duchess," the next guest came up "My name is Louis Villeneuve, I am the messenger to The Court of Savoy. I bring news from The Kingdom of Jerusalem."

"Go on," I replied.

"Princess Isabelle of Jerusalem is pregnant with the child of Prince Robert de Valois of France." He said, a rough pregnancy would explain the sickness that came over her during my coronation as Duchess of Savoy, explaining why she wasn't there, and Robert, Isabelle's second cousin, was the second youngest son of King Rene III, thus, he didn't stand to inherit very much of all, however, he could become The King-Consort of Jerusalem, and their child, which they would hope is a son, would be the heir to Jerusalem, thus The Jerusalemite throne would transition from The House de Valois-Anjou cadet branch to the main branch of The House de Valois, though, the thrones would still be separate, it would take quite a few deaths for The Kingdom of Jerusalem and The Kingdom of France to be ruled in a personal union, especially since The House of York in England maintains matrilineal claims to Jerusalem as Isabelle's mother, The Queen-Consort of Jerusalem, is the sister of King Richard IV of England, thus, if France were to try and rule Jerusalem, The English would step in and declare war, and The English were more than capable of getting an army to Jerusalem via the many, many ships in their world-class navy - France has a larger army, but they don't have the ships to get all those troops to Jerusalem, and even if they did, then those ships would be put up against The English navy, which would likely be able to crush The French navy and thus make the whole ordeal worthless - now, France in theory could march their armies to Jerusalem, though not only would that take far too much time compared to travel via ship, but it would also involve trying to negotiate passage through The Ottoman Empire, and given that The Ottomans and The Mamluks were hit very, very hard by French crusaders in the war that established this Kingdom of Jerusalem to begin with, I very much doubted that The Turk would be particularly helpful to The French armies, and I didn't think that The French would be willing to march all the way around The Black Sea, through distant Saracen realms and countless miles of inhospitable desert just to reach the farthest reaches of The Holy Land, all the while England would've been wrecking havoc upon Jerusalem itself - in short, France and Jerusalem would have to remain separate thrones under the current political climate.

In any case, I would certainly be writing to Isabelle about this child and about her sickness once I had the chance, probably just before I depart with Ippolita for our tour around The Duchy of Savoy - I may be with Ippolita now, but that doesn't mean that Isabelle and I had stopped writing to each other, we were still close friends and confidants, even if I knew that I had been much luckier than Isabelle had been in terms of my sexuality, I had gotten permission from my mother to remain unmarried and with Ippolita instead, because my brother Pietro would continue on the family line, he would be my heir and his child would be his heir, and so on, meanwhile I would be able to live happily with Ippolita, Isabelle however, she has to live in a loveless marriage with a husband who she feels absolutely no attraction to, meanwhile, that husband meanwhile, is preoccupied with romancing courtier after courtier, and every time he beds a woman in Jerusalem, he risks completely ruining Isabelle's reputation as well as her own, and now, that loveless marriage with half-hearted sex has resulted in a child that wouldn't even be part of Isabelle's House, instead part of a larger dynasty, and given that both parents are part of that larger dynasty, there is certainly a risk of that child possessing very, very negative traits as a result of this incestuous marriage - second cousins may be somewhat distant, but still closer than parents should be - now, I was well aware that The House of Savoy and The House of Paleologo-Monferrato have intermarried before, however, the facts are that the two of us aren't as closely related as Isabelle and her second cousin Robert, and, obviously, the two of us won't be producing children. I had gotten the information about Isabelle's pregnancy because I had made a request that I would be informed as to what is going on with my dear friend, using her diplomatic visit to me at the shores of Lake Geneva a decade ago as a pretext, which actually was partly true, I was just leaving out all the details about our romance and our correspondence ever since then, but the messengers and other staff here at The Palazzo di Sciamberi didn't need to know that, and in fact they shouldn't know, because even though I had become The Duchess of Savoy and I had gotten my mother's approval before she died, that didn't mean that I would get any approval for my relationship, nor did my mother ever publicly acknowledge or approve of my sexuality, quite the opposite in fact, instead she made me promise that I would be as secretive as possible with my sexuality and especially with my relationship with Ippolita, as then I would be accused of favoring her over other nobles and that would begin a whole mess of issues. Now, I'm sure that many, many people close to myself and Ippolita over these last eight years have seen Ippolita and I together and been able to put two and two together, but everyone who has figured out the truth evidently is happy enough with me to keep my secret a secret and to avoid even using it as blackmail.

"Goodbye my Duchess," The messenger said once we finished his complete encounter.

"My Duchess," the messenger left and the next guest arrived, this time a woman, her demeanor and the way she was dressed implied that she was of much lower status than the ladies of The Palazzo di Sciamberi - which up until my recent decree was still known by its French name, The Chateau de Chambery - however, I had changed that in order to reaffirm that The Duchy of Savoy is strong, independent, and Italian, despite what my enemies and allies alike may perceive us as, we knew our place and we only intended to rise even higher from here "My name is Antoinette, I was yours mother's newest handmaiden when she passed and, I know that you probably want to bring in your own handmaidens from Torino, but I will be here and I will gladly help you any way I can - I know that its not my place to make these decisions but I don't have any life outside of The Palazzo anymore and I thought that I had to let you know."

"Don't worry about it," I replied to Antoinette "You are part of the staff of The Palazzo di Sciamberi and I have no plans to kick you out or anyone else, no need to explain yourself, I do not intend to be cruel."

"Thank you, my Duchess," she bowed before walking off.

* * *

Eventually, things in Sciamberi calmed down enough that Ippolita and I could get away a little bit and go on a tour of The Duchy of Savoy, now, both of us knew Sciamberi and Torino well enough by now, so we wouldn't be visiting Torino during our tour - we lived there for eight years after all - I knew Ginevra and the area around Lake Geneva quite well, given that I spent many summers there - particularly the summer with Isabelle - but we would be going there because I wanted to show Ippolita the estate and the Lake - I wouldn't be showing her the hill where Isabelle shared our kiss or the castle of Romainmotier, those places were for Isabelle and I, showing them to Ippolita would only result in jealousy - I'm fairly confidant that these eight years will have been enough to convince Ippolita that she's far more to me than just a rebound, however showing her the places where Isabelle and I fell in love would only raise unnecessary doubts. Ippolita knew all about Casale Monferrato because she was born and raised there, however, we had to go there because of my coronation as The Duchess of Monferrato, besides, Ippolita has never been there with me, next we would visit The Ligurian ports of Albenga, Monaco, and Nizza, and on our way back to Sciamberi, we would visit the Alpine city of Cuneo, thus, Ippolita and I would get our tour of The Duchy, I would be crowned Duchess of Monferrato, and we would be back in Sciamberi before too long anyway. I am well aware that this is perhaps not the best time to take such a trip, but knowing what's on the horizon, Ippolita and I may not get another chance to do anything like this for years - once a war over Romagna erupts, I will have to go and lead the troops, and who knows how far the war will take us or how long it will take - wars between great powers can either be incredibly long or surprisingly short, depending on how many resources each and every country is willing to put into the war and what the actual goal is - France, Austria, and Spain are not really treating this as a serious war, rather they are treating this as an exhibition to see how strong their enemies are so that, at a later date, these powers could go to war and show their actual hand, unleashing their full potential upon each other and fighting for what they actually want, rather than what would otherwise be just yet another regional conflict in Italia. France didn't care about what Milano wanted, they didn't care what we wanted here in The Duchy of Savoy, France was in this war because Spain and Austria were and France wanted a chance to tear apart their enemies, meanwhile, England knew that their army was not their strong suit, their strong suit was their navy, and thus England knew that their best course of action was to wait for their enemies to tear each other apart so that, later on, England would be able to fight their enemies on a more equal footing.

"Are you ready?" I asked Ippolita as the servants packed our belonging onto the carriage, heading first to Ginevra and then turning south so we could visit the other principal cities of The Duchy of Savoy.

"Yes my love," she said and she gave me a quick kiss as I helped her up into the carriage, shutting the curtains behind us so that the two of us could have a little more privacy - now, we wouldn't be doing anything too frisky in the back of a moving carriage, but I appreciated the privacy because it meant that the two of us could have our own, unrestricted conversations and share kisses whenever we wished. I was Duchess of Savoy and I'm sure that people close to me have been able to figure out that there is something more to my relationship with Ippolita than mere friendship, however, that didn't change the fact that our relationship was homosexual, and no religious body was tolerant of homosexuality, not Catholicism, none of those damned protestant heretical denominations, and certainly not heathen religious such as Islam, that meant that, despite my privileged position, not even I was safe from my sexuality being exposed - my enemies already demonstrated that they are willing to use my gender as an excuse to seize power away from me, if they heard that I was a lesbian, then I would torn apart by my enemies and publicly disgraced after death - not only that, but I promised my mother that I would keep my sexuality and my relationship with Ippolita a secret, and I had absolutely no intention of breaking my promise to my late mother, especially since that promise was one of the very last things that I had told my mother face-to-face before she died. My mother was buried shortly before my coronation, we gave her a funeral worthy of a Duchess before adding her to The Savoyard crypt alongside all our ancestors, from the mere French Counts of Savoie from The High Middle Ages to the powerful Italian Dukes and now Duchesses of Savoy from The Late Middle Ages into The Renaissance.

The carriage took us back into The Alps and we were going to head back out north to Lake Geneva, it was now May so most of The Alpine snow had melted by now, remaining largely limited to the peaks of the mountains, however, as we got farther and farther from Sciamberi, we noticed that a light fog had come over The Alps as we neared Lake Geneva - now, Geneva the city was also renamed when I gave my language decree recently, thus, just like Chambery had become Sciamberi and Nice had become Nizza, Geneva was now also known by its Italian name, Ginevra, but I was still content with referring to Lake Geneva as Lake Geneva rather than a new name such as Lake Ginevra, because the Lake was merely a body of water rather than a major city - the official language of The Duchy of Savoy would be Italian and the major cities would be renamed in Italian, as would landmarks within those cities, however, I would not go so far as to force my people to remain all the minor villages and natural landmarks throughout my Francophone lands, I had nothing against my French citizens, French is a beautiful language and The Kingdom of France is our ally, however, it's clear that Rene III's goal as my ally and my goal as Rene III's ally are not one in the same - Rene III intends to expand his influence into Italia, I intend to strengthen myself and my Milanese and Neapolitan allies at the expense of foreigners in Italia - and when I noticed his reaction to the very Francophone state of affairs here in Sciamberi and in Nizza, I had no choice but to send a strong message to Paris, and thus, I declared that Italian was now the official language of The Duchy of Savoy - I didn't bother going into the specifics of dialects, I would tolerate any kind of Italian, from Piedmontese to Sicilian - and all the major cities were renamed accordingly, at least for now, in the future I may let the cities go back to using their French names and maintain French culture, it all depends as to how the repercussions to my decree go.

Soon enough the carriage arrived at The Savoyard estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, I distinctly remembered standing next to the doors of the estate and watching ten years ago as that carriage took away my Jerusalemite Princess, at the time, I was heartbroken - the person who I loved, the person who helped me figure out my sexuality for the very first time, the person who I thought I would never be able to replace was taken away from me, no matter what I did or how much time passed, there would be virtually the entire Mediterranean Sea between us, and that was simply no way to live at all - but now, in some ways I feel that Isabelle being taken away was for the best, because if she was still with me, then I would have never had what I have now with Ippolita - though, to be fair, I don't know what could have been, I don't know if a relationship with Isabelle would have been better or worse than what I've had with Ippolita, if it would even be any different at all, but I don't need to know, and quite frankly, I don't want to know because I'm with Ippolita now and I'm happy, Isabelle is still all the way in The Holy Land, well beyond reach. I miss Isabelle, I do, but I'm happy with Ippolita now and there's no need to dwell on the past or think about what could have been, though I admit that it's going to be hard to do that given that Ippolita and I are visiting the estate where Isabelle and I fell in love, we will be eating in the same dining room that Isabelle and I ate in, and we would be sleeping in the same bed that Isabelle and I slept in together on our last night together - the last time that I saw her face-to-face, all those years ago, yet I still remember her face, clear as day, I can still feel us sitting close on that hill, I can still see the gentle wind blowing through her hair, and I can still see the shine of the setting sun in her eyes - but there is a face I see that's just as strong, if not stronger, and that is the face of Ippolita and I together at The Colonna di Torino on that warm winter day, I remember her bright young brown eyes looking into mine, her beautiful black curly hair cascading down to her shoulders and back, and I remember the two of us pulled close as we shared our very first kiss. My life thus far has been a story of two relationships with two different women, first my brief but passionate romance with Isabelle, and now my long and loving relationship with Ippolita, and all I can say about them is that I'm so very lucky to have had even one of them in my life, to have had both...now that is an absolute Godsend.

The carriage had stopped and I helped Ippolita out of it once again, I could feel the sun high above reigning down upon Lake Geneva, I could feel warmth and bliss radiating off of Ippolita as we walked hand in hand from the carriage to the doors of The Savoyard estate, not a care in the world as to who could see or who would care - sure the consequences were severe, but it's not like we could immediately be pegged as lesbians simply for holding hands, I'm sure that to any and all observers this would just come across as a close friendship, nothing more and nothing less - but I didn't care what anyone else would think at this point, because I am Duchess of Savoy, I am holding hands with a beautiful woman as we walk together to the most luxurious residence in any Swiss canton, whether it be one ruled by we here in Savoy or one controlled by The Swiss themselves, everywhere I looked I saw memories of myself and Isabelle sharing our love affair from a decade ago and when I looked back, I saw myself and Ippolita, sharing our love affair in the present - life was good, and all the while, we have peace in Italia for the time being, now it was time for Ippolita and I to get some much needed privacy and rest.

"Welcome to The Savoyard estate, my love," I told her as I opened the door.

"Thank you, my love," she replied as we entered the estate, entered a place that had previously belonged only to myself and Isabelle, but Ippolita and I were able to fill this place with new memories, memories of each other, for me, these memories were additions to some of the greatest moments of my life, to Ippolita, these were brand new memories created in a magical place on the shores of Lake Geneva.

* * *

We left Lake Geneva on our way to a place near and dear to her heart, Casale Monferrato, the place where she was born and raised until she turned sixteen and was sent to Torino to become one of my Ladies - and she is certainly my Lady now - for her, this would be a homecoming visit, returning to a place that she hasn't been to for years, for me, this would be my second coronation - perhaps even my last coronation, because, despite my confidence in my alliance and my plans for after we win the war, we may not win the war at all, let alone in such a convincing fashion as I'm imagining, in fact, we may lose very, very badly, especially if Austria and Spain decide to ally with each other against France - I doubt that this will happen, because their interests overlap, but if our alliance gains a significant advantage, they may decide that maintaining the status quo is better than losing it all to us - and if Spain does get a significant victory, I'm imagine that they would at very least demand Naples return Sicily to them, if not attempting to annex The Kingdom of Naples in its entirety, and that wouldn't be all, Spain would likely demand that France hands over the former northernmost territory of The Kingdom of Navarra - a coastal region of southwest France populated by The Basques - and Spain would definitely want France to give up all claims to their Burgundian holding - The Borgias would use a complete victory to solidify their position in The Low Countries and eastern France, and they would also demand that Provence, another lesser member of our alliance, cede their coastal holdings in Provence proper and in Forcalquier to provide a coastline for The Pope's land in Avignon, thus The Duke of Provence - Isabelle's uncle - would be stripped of his lands in Provence itself and he would be reduced to just his lands in The County of Anjou and the remains of The Duchy of Bar - which at this point is reduced to virtually just Barrois - east of that lies The Duchy of Lorraine, which is currently subject to Provence, however, Lorraine may not tolerate this if Provence loses their most worthwhile holdings on The French Riviera, thus Provence would completely lose access to the sea, and Mediterranean trade is effectively the keystone of Provence's economy.

Casale Monferrato was a little city nestled between The Duchy of Monferrato's many vineyards, Monferrato has been historically known for its wine, however decades of colder weather means that Monferrato hasn't been doing as well economically as it was in The Middle Ages - there was a time when The Duke of Monferrato was rich enough to go off on crusades alongside English, Frankish, and Norman Kings, but not anymore - Monferrato wasn't so rich anymore, The Duchy of Monferrato became a lesser and lesser country as its territory was chipped away by The House di Savoia and The House of Visconti in Milano until the once powerful crusader controlled Duchy became first a vassal of Savoy, and eventually was fully integrated. Monferrato declined because it had too much dependence on wine and devoted too much time to foreign affairs rather than domestic maintenance, at first, The Duke of Monferrato was a busy crusader, but, as a direct result of these crusades, The Duchy of Monferrato was so heavily involved in eastern Mediterranean affairs that eventually, Monferrato came under the rule of The House of Paleologo, creating a cadet branch called The House of Paleologo-Monferrato, but, rather than consolidating their position, this dynasty devoted time and effort to getting involved in the affairs of the crumbling and distant Byzantine Empire - and because of all this, Casale Monferrato was nowhere near as large or as extravagant as you'd expect the capital of an Italian Duchy to be, especially now after The Renaissance. All of this meant that The Duchy of Monferrato was a relic of the past and The House di Savoia was on the rise, so soon enough, The Duchy of Monferrato was a largely irrelevant title - The Duchy of Monferrato was smaller than The Principality of Piemonte and fairly similar in size to The Canton of Vaud, but by law Monferrato had equal dignity in Savoy, and when I'm crowned Duchess of Savoy, I will unveil the coat of arms that my brother Pietro designed for me, where the flag of The Duchy of Monferrato occupied the entire bottom right quadrant of my personal coat of arms, being exactly the same size as the flag of The Duchy of Savoy in the upper left quadrant.

"Home sweet home," Ippolita said as our carriage rode into Casale Monferrato, but the whole time she was looking into my eyes.

"Did you miss it?" I asked.

"No," she replied.

"Oh? Why's that?" I asked, confused as her remarks seemed to contradict each other.

"Casale Monferrato isn't home, home is where the people who I love are, home is wherever I am, whenever I am, as long as I'm with you." Ippolita said as we came closer and made sure that the curtains were closed before we shared a kiss as the carriage took us to Castello di Savoia, formerly Castello Paleologo, obviously renamed once we took over, even if The House of Paleologo-Monferrato is alive and well - in fact, I'm kissing a Paleologo-Monferrato right now - we were the ones who ruled The Duchy of Savoy and The Duchy of Monferrato, not the vestigial Italo-Grecian dynasty.

Unfortunately, our intimacy was soon interrupted as the carriage reached its destination just outside of The Castello di Savoia - now, The Chateau de Chambery was an old building built around a Medieval core, and, now that it is renamed The Palazzo di Sciamberi, I intended to accompany the renaming with a massive facelift to the palace, bringing it as close to a Renaissance standard as I possibly could - however, The Castello di Savoia wasn't quite so simple to renovate, because there's a reason its called a Castello rather than a Palazzo, Monferrato's capital building is a stone Medieval castle with small windows and thick walls - now, the interior would be quite nice, with carpets, modern furniture, and modernized architecture, but there is only so much that can be done - if I was to help out Casale Monferrato, I would likely build up a whole new palace rather than renovating this - but for now, this is what we have right now, and this Castello is where I shall be crowned as The Duchess of Monferrato.

The two of us got out of the carriage as a small crowd gathered around to see what was going on - the local guards kept the people far enough away that they could see but they couldn't do any harm to us - I wanted to be good to my people, but seeing that plots have already been committed against me, this was a necessary evil, who knows if a civilian is just a civilian or if that civilian is an Austrian assassin? Perhaps after the war over Romagna, if we can calm things down in the aftermath, then I could allow my guards to be a little more lax with protecting me from the common masses - not too much, I wasn't stupid after all, but enough that the people could grow to love me for who I am as well as their Duchess - but for now, the situation is what it is and I have to value my own security as well as Ippolita's - my enemies didn't necessarily know about any of the rumors between myself and Ippolita, but they could probably figure it out if they needed to, and my enemies would not hesitate to hurt Ippolita if it meant harming me in turn, and I simply couldn't ever let that happen - so, as the two of us walked into The Castello Monferrato, the guards followed, ensuring that no one could get close enough to do us any harm, because I was The Duchess of Savoy and I would soon be The Duchess of Monferrato, meanwhile, Ippolita was a beloved member of the local House of Paleologo-Monferrato - therefore I had a valid excuse for taking Ippolita with me on this tour of The Duchy of Savoy.

* * *

The next day I was once again awaiting a coronation - a pair of curtains were currently covering up two massive banners of the coat of arms that my brother Pietro di Savoia had designed for me - as Duchess of Savoy, Princess of Piemonte, Countess of Nice, Countess of Vaud, Countess of Valais, and Countess of Liguria, I was crowned by Patriarch Marco I Bianchi of Torino - formerly The Archbishop of Torino, however, as a result of my agreement with Pope Guglielmus I after he privately revealed his support for the rebellion in Nice - though the official story is that The Pope did his concessions in order to ease tensions and to award The Duchy of Savoy for its piety and its determination to The Catholic faith - but this would not be the case of Monferrato, because instead of The Patriarch of Torino, I would be crowned Duchess of Monferrato by Gian Giacomo Paleologo-Monferrato, the local Bishop and Ippolita's second cousin once removed - dynastic inheritance is a difficult thing, so outlying members of the ruling house may never stand to gain anything through conventional means, so instead, just like Bishop Gian Giacomo, they pursue other ways of getting power and prestige, in this case, Gian Giacomo went with the religious route. My brother, Pietro, didn't stand to inherit anything for a long time coming, as I'm unlikely to drop dead any time too soon, but even if he was closer to the throne, Pietro didn't necessary want to be a ruler, he was happy with being an artist, poet, architect, sword-fighter, and general, all at once - which granted, was quite an impressive feat and he is definitely succeeding at his goal of becoming a renaissance man - but his choice may not be the best choice for The Duchy of Savoy - though perhaps one day he'll have children who are more willing to fill my shoes the day that I eventually die.

I walked into the coronation room when prompted to see a fair few guests - mostly local nobility, the bigger guests had instead opted to attend my coronation in Sciamberi to become The Duchess of Savoy, however I did see that, once again The Gonzaga Duke of Mantua was in attendance, as was The Duke of Provence, who for whatever reason hadn't attended my coronation in Sciamberi despite the rest of our alliance being there for our strategic meeting concerning the recent developments with Pope Guglielmus I - though, The Duke of Provence realistically is effectively a vassal to his cousin King Rene III of France, and that means that his vassal, The Duke of Lorraine is a de jure vassal to a de facto vassal of The Kingdom of France - though I'm sure that The Duke of Provence will attempt to replace his brother as The King of Jerusalem if Isabelle's father continues to fail to produce a male heir - Provence can argue that Isabelle's child, regardless of gender, cannot become The King of Jerusalem as Isabelle doesn't have the ability to transfer the right to the throne - because she herself doesn't have a right to the throne because of her gender - though his brother, as King of Jerusalem can declare that Isabelle does indeed have a right to the throne, but even then, The Provencal members of The House of Valois-Anjou do not want to pass their one and only Kingdom to their senior branch which already rules over The Kingdom of France, and, as I mentioned, The English have their dirty claws in this matter as well, so needless to say, if Isabelle's father, The King of Jerusalem and his English wife do not produce a male heir, then things could get very ugly in The Holy Land. I pity Isabelle, not only is she trapped in a loveless marriage, but despite her unique position meaning that she was relatively high in the line of succession for The Kingdom of Jerusalem, The Duchy of Provence, and even The Kingdom of England - Isabelle also theoretically has a claim to The Kingdom of France due to her being a member of France's cadet branch, however, he husband is much higher in The French line of succession - despite the fact that, in a relatively crazy but certainly possible series of events, Isabelle York de Valois-Anjou could theoretically become the most powerful woman in Europe, her right to succeed her very own father was being questioned.

My right to rule was not being questioned as Bishop Gian Giacomo Paleologo-Monferrato lowered the coronation crown onto my head - the coronation crown, similar to the coronation crown of The Duchy of Savoy, was a simple Medieval open crown, not particularly comfortable to wear, nor particularly fancy by modern standards, however, just like The Duchy of Savoy used a coronation crown not because of its fanciness but because of the history of the crown, with a whole line of my ancestors being crowned with it, and just like that, this old coronation crown from The Duchy of Monferrato was used to crown a few of my recent ancestors, members of Ippolita's dynasty, The House of Paleologo-Monferrato, and before that, the crown went back and forth between various crusader families due to the complex and fluid nature of Medieval politics - this age may not be perfect, but at very least things are a bit more stable, not since The War of The Roses have we seen a truly Medieval style internal conflict between internal families feuding within a state - now, nobles did rise up still, as we've seen in events like Nizza, however, a minor uprising is very different from a full scale civil war over the throne. Fortunately, I wouldn't need to worry about any uprisings for the foreseeable future because I managed to convincingly crush the rebellion and I came out stronger because of it - now, like I said, The Pope's public story is that he wanted to reduce tensions, but the nobles within my country, the nobles who were approached by Pope Guglielmus I to join the uprising, they knew what the truth really was, they knew that The Pope was apologizing in order to keep peace and to make sure that I do not reveal what I know, I would oblige, so long as he kept his word and neither he, nor The Spanish declared war, because after all, supporting this internal rebellion is more than enough for my alliance to justify a declaration of war against our enemies, thus, despite us taking land, history would remember The Papal States as the aggressors who kicked it all off, and as I mentioned before, nobody wanted to be the one who declared this war because no one was entirely confidant in their chance at victory. In any case, I was now Duchess of Savoy and Duchess of Monferrato, I have now fully come to rule the lands that I'm inheriting from my mother, now I just needed to secure The Duchy of Ferrara and The Duchy of Modena from The Habsburgs in order to secure my father's birthright lands which are now rightfully mine.

* * *

Ippolita and I left Monferrato and continued our tour of The Duchy of Savoy, heading to the coast and traveling along The Italian Riviera, first, we would stop by at the Ligurian city of Albenga. Albenga was famous for its many Medieval stone towers, watching over the coastal city, back then these towers were filled with master archers who boasted that they could kill two besieging soldiers with one arrow from the top of their towers, however, I did doubt that these boasts are entirely truthful, but nonetheless, Albenga surely would be difficult to capture in The Middle Ages, though not so much anymore, because when The Savoyard armies captured this territory from Genoa, these towers didn't play into the conflict at all, because if they did, our cannons could blast them apart - now I'm sure that the thin brick towers were very resilient against arrows or catapults, but against explosive power? Technology marches on, and in order to resist against modern artillery, we have had to resort to star forts made up of many, many layers of fortifications - thick and stout walls, massive triangular bastions, outer walls reinforced by earth, moats, floating bastions, and many, many other methods to make star forts virtually impossible to conquer, instead, the enemies would need to completely surround the fortress and beat down on it with artillery until the soldiers within surrender to starvation and disease.

On that happy note, Ippolita and I got out of our carriage and walked onto the beach, walking across the soft sand and heading towards the water, looking out at The Ligurian Sea, and beyond that, at The Mediterranean Sea.

"Wow," Ippolita exclaimed as the afternoon sun shined over the bright blue water.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I asked.

"It is," she came closer to me, not a kiss this time, instead we just stood close together and enjoyed each other's company as we looked out at the sea, however, after a while, Ippolita noticed something and she pointed "What's that there in the distance?"

"Oh," I looked out and saw what she was seeing "That's Corsica, an Italian island just north of Sardinia, both of those islands are part of Spain right now."

"Italian island?" Ippolita asked "Why would Spain rule over an Italian island?"

"Exactly, that's one of the issues we intend to solve once we declare war." I revealed.

"When we declare war, promise me that you'll come back to me alive." Ippolita was now looking at me in the eyes, intensely, fully aware of what a war with The Spanish and The Austrians, as well as all their various allies, could mean to me, as I would have to lead The Savoyard troops into battle, into battle not against pitifully armed rebels, but against a fully armed and modern army, cutting edge forces, I would be up against modern artillery, Spanish Tercios, Hungarian Hussars, and who knows what else my enemies have up their sleeves, after all, this war could be where some new and devastating invention of modern warfare could be unveiled to absolutely destructive effect. I didn't know, I couldn't know what would happen, but even now, in peace time, before we have any idea of what we could be facing in war or who would really have an advantage in battle, before we knew any of that, Ippolita was pleading with me that I would promise her that I would come back to her alive.

"Ippolita..." I tried to make a point but she interrupted me.

"Promise me!" she pleaded, tears in her eyes now.

"I promise," I told her, I don't know how, but I'll come back alive. We would continue our tour through the other Ligurian cities of Monaco and Nizza, head through The Alps, stopping by at the little Alpine city of Cuneo, before heading all the way back to The Palazzo di Sciamberi, but the moment that Ippolita and I had shared on the beach of Albenga was the emotional high point of our tour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright then, chapter fifteen is a bit shorter and then, after that, I will be posting act four later today. I want to have the hole fictionpress version of this story on AO3 by the end of today.


	15. The Renaissance Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter of act three. This is a five act story by the way. This chapter also includes two 16th century Italians disparaging 16th century Greece, these are not my opinions, these are just reflections of intolerance in the early modern world.

Act III.

The Duchess of Savoy and Monferrato.

Chapter XV.

The Renaissance Man.

* * *

I enjoyed the tour of The Duchy of Savoy that Ippolita and I took, but now it felt good to be laying next to Ippolita back in a somewhat familiar bed - I would've preferred our bed at The Palazzo di Torino but the circumstances meant that the two of us would have to settle for our bed in The Palazzo di Sciamberi - the bed at The Savoyard estate on the shores of Lake Geneva was somewhat familiar, however, before Ippolita and I visited, I hadn't slept there since that diplomatic visit during the summer of 1555 - but in any case, as long as I was sleeping next to Ippolita, I would be content regardless of where we were sleeping. I felt well rested and energetic as I arched my back and stretched, feeling the bedsheets gently slide down my bare stomach as I did so, but I wasn't quite ready to get out of bed yet, so I pulled the sheets back over me and hugged the still sleeping Ippolita, just enjoying the peace and serenity. I was now officially Duchess of Savoy and Duchess of Monferrato, and I was born with claims to The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena, all of this meant that I could quickly become the most powerful woman in Italia - then again, I already was given that no other head of state in Italia is a woman, the closest would probably be King Ferrante II of Naples' wife, Maria-Ana of Portugal, who theoretically could become Queen-Regent if Ferrante II died in battle - Ferrante was young enough that it wasn't likely that he would die of natural causes - since none of their children have reached majority, but in any case, I wanted to become significantly more powerful and fulfill my promise to my mother, I wanted to recover my father's rightful lands - even if I wasn't officially a part of The House d'Este, I was still a d'Este by blood and I was intent on pushing The Habsburgs out of the lands in Romagna that were rightfully mine - after that, I would decide what to do with them, I think I will hand over The Duchy of Modena to The Milanese Sforza while keeping The Duchy of Ferrara for myself - The House d'Este considered themselves Dukes of Ferrara first and foremost after all - because Modena would give Milano a continuous territory stretching from Lombardia to Romagna, and in return, Milano would give me the rest of Piemonte by handing over Novara to me, this would make everyone happy as we would end up with a strong Savoy stretching from The Swiss Cantons of Vaud and Valais to The Ligurian Coast, soon we shall add Genoa to that coastline, meanwhile, Milano would be the seat of a more easterly but stronger territory, the loss of Novara for Modena would be a net loss of land in exchange for a net gain in wealth as Modena is a wealthy city, however, if we were to gain Ferrara and Modena, then Milano would gain Romagna proper anyway, therefore, The Duchy of Milan would gain land after all - now, I'm sure that there will be Milanese hardliners in Novara unhappy and such an agreement, but I'm sure when the time comes, if the war is won, The Sforza will happily agree to this exchange.

That exchange would resolve my interests from The Austrians, I'm sure Milano will also demand that Austria, despite being The Holy Roman Empire, allow The Duchy of Milan to invade Switzerland and claim the cantons just north of Lombardia, France will like desire an expansion into The Holy Roman Empire as well, Rene III clearly wants to eventually annex The Duchy of Provence and their vassal in The Duchy of Lorraine, after that, France would be free to push all the way to the banks of The River Rhine. The Kingdom of Naples doesn't really have anything to gain from war with Austria, but we'll also be at war with Spain, and that is where Naples truly stands to gain, Naples will want to force The House of Borgia to surrender all their claims to Naples and to Sicily, meanwhile, France will want to at very least push Spain out of their holdings in eastern France - if not The Low Countries as well - and annex Avignon from The Papal States, as for Milano, well the whole reason that everyone is worried over this war is that The House of Sforza holds land in Romagna as vassals to The Pope, yet these vassals would rather answer to their relative, Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan, than Pope Guglielmus I, so, Milano wants to make it so. A war against The Papal States and Spain would be very, very costly, however, the results could be amazing, therefore, I wanted to reclaim The Italian islands of Sardinia and Corsica from Spain, surely out of a realm consisting of The Duchy of Savoy, The Duchy of Monferrato, The Duchy of Ferrara, and at least one if not both of these two islands, I could forge my very own Kingdom and lead The Savoyard people into a golden age. This war would be difficult, I had no delusions about that, and this war would likely last several years at very least, however, I knew that, if we played our cards right, our alliance could be dominant in western Europe by the end of it, France would have crushed both Spain and Austria, becoming virtually unmatched, though this meant that our allies in Provence and Lorraine would end up losing their independence as France grows every larger, however, hopefully Savoy, Milan, and Naples would grow strong enough to restrict King Rene III's Italian ambition - it seems that our close ally may be the biggest threat to us wrong time, and therefore, the rest of our alliance needs to band together in order to keep Italia Italian - this didn't mean war with France, quite the opposite in fact, this meant a peace with France, but this would be an equal peace, there would be no tribute or appeasement, instead, there would be four Kingdoms of equal dignity - France and Naples, as well as whatever Kingdoms we here in Savoy and our Milanese allies can forge.

In more positive news, I would soon talk to the local architects to begin the renovation of The Palazzo di Sciamberi, we wouldn't be changing the physical dimensions of the building, the small Medieval interior would remain, though it would be renovated as well, repainted and restyled, the building would not be expanded either, as there isn't room to expand due to nearby buildings - as for the major renovations, first of all, I would build a Greco-Roman façade on the building, including columns in front of The Medieval core of the building and above that, a detailed pediment. There wasn't much more that we could do with The Medieval core, so, moving on to the more modern right and left wings, to compliment the columns on the core building, we would be adding pilasters to the exterior walls, and between them, additionally, due to the weight of the new roof and the pediment over The Medieval core of The Palazzo di Sciamberi, there would need to be pilasters added to the inside of the central section of this palace, because the old Medieval walls can't support all that much weight - it seems that my ambitions are quickly surpassing the building that I have to work with at the moment. Anyway, back to the right and left wings, we would be replacing all the windows of The Palazzo di Sciamberi, the new windows would be larger and grander, and they would bring The Palazzo di Sciamberi to a style closer to that of the style of The Palazzo di Torino. I did still want to move the capital over to Torino, but due to the current geopolitical situation of a war on the horizon and French ambitions on Italia, the capital would remain in Sciamberi until at very least after the war for Romagna, hopefully then I would be in a better position to deal with The French. The Palazzo di Torino is a palace worthy of someone as powerful as The Duchess of Savoy, however, The Palazzo di Sciamberi doesn't necessarily match the illustrious post that lies within it, but I will make due and I will make the most out of this building.

* * *

The first steps of the renovation had begun as I went to see my brother Pietro in his art studio, Ippolita at my side - I suppose that sooner rather than later I should tell him about my relationship with Ippolita and how he would be my heir - though, I already know that he does not want to be The Duke of Savoy, not now and not ever, because he was never raised to be a ruler and he never wanted to be a ruler - my mother was shrewd enough to know that, if she wanted me to become her heiress, despite the norms of European inheritance, my brother would need to be as disinterested in ruling as possible, and thus, I was given The March of Torino to govern while Pietro was given a Renaissance artist as a tutor and a space in The Palazzo to use as his studio - however, hopefully neither of us would need to face this particular issue, as hopefully Pietro would produce a child and I would live more than long enough for that child to reach majority and thus be able to take the throne after I eventually die, then, Pietro could be passed over, just like how he wanted. As Ippolita and I walked into his art studio, we watched as Pietro, dressed in a blue coat and white tights with a red beret on his head, he painted a portrait of a beautiful young woman in a golden dress who was sitting in front of him, the two of us waited patiently because we didn't want to interrupt an artist of work, but I wasn't stupid, I knew that there was only one reason why Pietro would be painting a portrait of a beautiful woman - I was very interested in learning who this woman was and what these two intended to do together. Soon enough, Pietro noticed that the two of us were here, so, he made a few more brush strokes to finish up the woman's face - the rest of the painting could wait apparently - he sat down the canvas to dry, he cleared some space and he approached me, the woman soon joined him.

"Duchess Teresa, Lady Ippolita," he greeted before asking "How was your tour?"

"The tour was wonderful," I replied and Ippolita concurred "We visited The Savoyard estate, Monferrato - where we unveiled the coat of arms that you helped me design - The Ligurian coast, and we traveled through Cuneo on our way back to Sciamberi."

"Quite the journey," the woman interjected.

"Hello there," I greeted her properly "Duchess Teresa I of Savoy and Monferrato,"

"Francesca Acciaioli," she introduced herself "My grandfather is The Duke of Athens," The Duchy of Athens was one of a few crusader state set up in Greece after The Fourth Crusade, these tended to be very Italian due to proximity and Venetian and Genoese interest in the region, The Duchy of Athens briefly fell under the rule of The Byzantine Empire, however, The Byzantines were crushed by The Ottomans while Athens survived, and it has continued to survive as The Ottomans have been weakened by the recent Crusade, as well as the growing power of Austria and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, both of whom are quite pleased to see their fellow Catholics still holding land in Greece. My mother had intended me to marry into one of these crusader families, specifically, The House Tocchi, who were the rulers of The Duchy of Corfu, however, I had rejected that and gotten her permission to continue my relationship with Ippolita in secret, so long as Pietro was able to be my heir and then produce children who could continue the main line of the family - my mother didn't want any of her cousins or their immediate family taking The Savoyard throne because of how they resisted her accession to the throne solely because of her gender and their own greed for power - but now, Pietro was with a woman, a woman of suitable noble descent, and one of a House quite similar to the one that my mother had wanted me to marry into, it was fitting in a way, so if Pietro wants to marry this woman, I'm inclined to approve - so long as she's the right woman for my little brother.

"Our mother approved my betrothal to her on her deathbed." Pietro revealed "I want to marry her."

"I see," I didn't realize that Pietro had been betrothed for this long, he hadn't told me anything about this yet, then again, things have been quite hectic ever since my mother's died, between the noble rebellion orchestrated by Pope Guglielmus I, her funeral, my coronation, the meeting with Rene III of France, Ferrante II of Naples, Filippo Maria II of Milan, and Carlo II of Mantua immediately after the coronation to discuss recent developments, and not long after that, the tour of Savoy that Ippolita and I had just done on, so I suppose that, before now, Pietro didn't really have a chance to tell me about this. In any case, I turned to Francesca to talk to her "Are you right for my brother? Do you truly love him or do you just love the palace and the money? Can I trust you to love my brother? To raise my nieces and nephews? Can I trust you to become a member of The House di Savoia?"

"I don't know my Lady," she replied "I know that I promise that I will do my best to do right by you and your brother, I promise that I will try to be the best wife I can for Pietro, and I promise that I will try to live up to your family's name, but I'd be naïve to think that I can guarantee anything."

"Good," I replied, speaking more as Pietro's big sister than as The Duchess of Savoy "You can't guarantee anything, but you can promise that you will try, you know your place and you will make a fine addition to my family, you two have my blessing."

"Thank you Teresa," my brother gave me a hug.

"Just promise me one thing Pietro," I requested.

"What?" he asked.

"Produce a heir, continue our bloodline." I told him.

"You won't be producing your own heir?" he asked, somewhat confused - I guess that was understandable given that homosexuality wasn't exactly accepted, and I haven't spent much time around Pietro at all yet, my first interaction with him was threatening him over the rebellion in Nice, then I asked him to help me design my personal coat of arms, and besides that, I really haven't spent all that much time alongside Pietro quite yet - before I arrived in Sciamberi, I had been busy as Marchioness of Torino and thus didn't have a chance to get to know my little brother as closely as I would've wanted to, therefore, I didn't know about his relationship with his fiancée Francesca Acciaioli until he told me, and he doesn't know about my relationship with Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato because, due to all the chaos as of late, I haven't had the chance to tell him about it either. There was a disconnect between myself and Pietro, and I would have to work to help mend that disconnect, and I would start by revealing my relationship with Ippolita to him and to his fiancée...I had to hope that they would be tolerant of this relationship - I had a feeling that Pietro would tolerate it, after all he has spent so much time around Renaissance artists and quite a few Renaissance artists are rumored to be of the other persuasion, and besides, I'm his one and only flesh and blood sibling, however, when it comes to Francesca, I have no idea what she would think of my sexuality because I've only just now gotten to know her.

"I have a secret to tell you - the both of you," I confessed "But first, promise me that neither of you will tell anyone else about this!"

"I promise," Pietro said, we may have a disconnect but he knew me well enough that I was getting very, very serious.

"I promise," Francesca obliged as well, so I took a deep breath and prepared to share my deepest darkest secret with my brother and his soon-to-be wife, thankfully, Ippolita was at my side and she already knew what this was about, she was keeping quiet however, because Ippolita knew that this was something that I had to tell the two of them and I had to do it myself - it's one thing to learn your sister's sexuality from herself, it's another to learn it from your sister's lover, I had to be the one to do this, it just wouldn't be the same if Ippolita did it, after all, up until now, they've only known her as Lady Ippolita, a close friend and a confidant, but they didn't know that we were together, they didn't know that we slept together every night, we kept those secrets to ourselves - besides myself and Ippolita, the only person allowed in my room at night was Giulia, who at this point has been my handmaiden for years and we've even gotten Giulia involved in our sex life quite a few times over the last eight years, but anyway, the point is that my brother and his fiancée have no idea what's going on between myself and Ippolita because they haven't been around the two of us for long enough to take a hint or two.

"Pietro, years ago our mother tried to get me married off to some noble from The Duchy of Corfu, I refused, and I revealed to her that I was homosexual - yes, that's right, I am a lesbian and I'm only interested in women - our mother gave me permission to proceed with my sexuality so long as you were around to be my heir and eventually, to produce a heir to both of us, thus, I got out of this royal marriage and had permission to remain unmarried as long as there was someone to continue on our mother's lineage. I have been lovers with Ippolita ever since then and both of us are very happy. I know that this is a lot to take in and I know that my own sexuality is very, very controversial, however, I do hope that both of you understand that this is natural for me and that this makes me happy - believe me Pietro, I know that you don't want to rule, and you may not have to, because, I don't intend to die any time soon and hopefully, you can be skipped over and your eldest child would be named my heir, allowing you to spend your life in the way that you're accustomed." I tried to admit everything that I could and I ended up nervously stammering along trying to appease my brother as much as I could - I wouldn't necessarily say that I was ashamed about my sexuality or that it was embarrassing to admit it to other people, just that there was so much related to this situation that Pietro and Francesca didn't know and I feel that he deserved the whole story, so I tried to give him the whole story, even if that meant that it came out quite awkwardly.

"Teresa...you're a homosexual?" Pietro asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Yes Pietro," I replied "I wish I could have told you sooner...do you...do you approve of this?"

"Well...are you two happy?" Pietro asked - I could tell that from his perspective, I kind of dropped a massive bomb on him, but there really wasn't anything that I could do about it now, I just had to try and do the best I could to make up for all my past mistakes.

"Yes I am," I said proudly and surely.

"Of course," Ippolita immediately responded, overlapping with me.

"Well...then I guess I can learn to understand it then." Pietro vowed.

"And you Francesca?" Ippolita asked.

"I was born and raised in Athens, Lady Ippolita, The Grecians have stories that would put any loyal scandal to shame - I've seen it all everywhere from the classical plays to their vases to their temples, a loving relationship between two women is hardly radical when I grew up hearing stories of incestuous gods and women with snakes for hair who would turn men to stone." Francesca said, referencing Greco-Roman mythology, a strange form of paganism that was prevalent in ancient Greece and Italia, it may be long extinct as a faith but their stories, their sculptures, and their architecture has played a massive role in The Renaissance as secrets of the past are uncovered and expressed in the form of jaw-dropping art - everything from the smallest, crudest painting to the largest, most glamorous palace of The Italian Renaissance wore some sort of mark or homage of Greco-Roman civilization.

"I'm no stranger to The Greek world myself," Ippolita replied "I've heard plenty of those stories myself."

"Thankfully, my grandfather and his allies all along the coast of Greece are all doing their best to turn these pagan turned Orthodox Greeks into proper, Catholic Italians." Francesca smiled, her family was a Tuscan noble family far away from home, but they wanted to turn Athens into their own little slice of Tuscany and I would be glad to see them succeed.

"Good, perhaps there is hope yet for my family's homeland." Ippolita smiled.

"Yes, our bishops are working tirelessly to convert the populace and to protect them from The Turk, there are even whispers that an influential Cardinal in service of The House Crispo in The Duchy of The Archipelago may be the next Pope after his Holiness Guglielmus I passes away."

"A Grecian Pope?" I asked, intrigued at the possibility that an outsider may come to rule The Papal States at such a fickle time, I didn't know much about the religious situation in Greece beyond what I've just overheard from Ippolita and Francesca's conversation, but now I was fully ready to learn more as I prepared to figure out whether this Grecian Cardinal, apparently the preferred successor to The Pope, would be friend or foe. Perhaps myself or another member of our alliance could send an early gift to this alleged preferatus and try to make an ally out of him before he could be swayed by The Spanish or The Papal elite in order to become yet another de facto puppet of Spain as the three great powers involved in this Romagna situation prepared to wage war and determine who of them will have dominance over The Italian peninsula - though, unlike the other alliances, we intended to keep Italia Italian, even if it means that we could potentially sour relations with France in the process - they may be the strongest member of our alliance, but they don't have the emotional investment and passion for this conflict as we do, to The French, this is merely just a war against two of their three biggest enemies, but to us, this was a war over liberating our brethren under foreign rule, and we were prepared to fight tooth and nail for each and every Italian ruled by our enemies.

"It seems so," Francesca replied, leaving me wondering as to what awaits The Duchy of Savoy in the near future.

* * *

I smiled from the window of me and Ippolita's bedroom as I watched Pietro and Francesca depart from Sciamberi Cathedral, freshly married and board their carriage as they returned to The Palazzo di Sciamberi - I had attended part of the service before I had to return to The Palazzo because of urgent news - The Prince-Archbishop of Utrecht has agreed to secretly joined our alliance, once Spain mobilized its troops and their armies departed from The Spanish Netherlands, Utrecht would declare war and invade The Borgia's Dutch and Flemish territory, The Spanish would have to respond to this, meaning that they would need to march an army from Italia to The Netherlands, and the fastest way to accomplish this would be to pass through France, where a French army could intercept them and ideally, we could crush one of Spain's armies then and there, this would relieve pressure from Italia by removing quite a few Spanish soldiers from the equation, and it would continue to affect the war as Spanish troops would have to be sent to deal with the invasion of The Netherlands rather than being sent to Romagna where the most difficult fighting would be taking place. This could give us a fatal advantage against The Spaniards and thus let us gain a strong advantage against our Spanish and Papal enemies, perhaps even being able to deliver a few critical and crushing blows before The Habsburg alliance led by Austria would enter the war, therefore, rather than fighting a war of three alliances all fighting each other, we could effectively try and turn this into a war of two separate wars, however, the only problems are that, one: The Spanish may not fully commit to The Netherlands, sacrificing them to Utrecht in exchange for helping their Papal allies and potentially dethroning France's status as a major power in western Europe, and another issue is that, such an advantage could mean that The Spanish and The Papal States, fearing a loss, may reach some sort of a compromise with The Austrians and they could all join forces against us, and the united forces of Spain and Austria could be too much for even our mighty alliance to handle. Castille and Austria were quite close allies before the rise of The House of Borgia, which instead brought them closer to The Papal States due to The Borgia's history with two of their older family members having had been elected by The College of Cardinals to become The Pope, but relations between Austria and The Papal States had soured due to The Pope's diminishing influence over The Holy Roman Empire, which at this point had an Emperor that was elected - granted, three of the electors: Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, are Archbishops, but Brandenburg, Saxony, and Bohemia are a pair of Duchies and a Kingdom, respectively, meanwhile, the seventh elector, The Count-Palatine of The Rhine, is now The King of Denmark because both were ruled by The House von Wittelsbach and The Count-Palatine died without a heir, so The King of Denmark seized the electoral throne before his relatives in Bavaria could, despite the fact that Denmark no longer had The Kalmar Union over The Kingdom of Sweden and The Kingdom of Norway, however, The Danes believe that their new position as an elector of The Holy Roman Empire, their growing power over The Hanseatic League, and their ambitions on a massive Baltic Empire can lead Denmark back into a position of prosperity and dominance over the north.

Unfortunately for Denmark, however, the ambitious Swedish House of Scania wants a Baltic Empire of their own, and right now, seeing as Sweden encircles The Gulf of Bothnia and stretches as far inland as to the border with the remnants of The Grand Republic of Novgorod - which has been deprived of the actual city of Novgorod after wars against The Muscovites, but it still remains strong, bordering The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with its territory in Ingria, Novgorod controls the areas from just south of The Karelian Lakes all the way up to The Kola Peninsula, and from The Gulf of Finland of The Baltic Sea in the west to The Gulf of Onega in The White Sea, so still a considerable territory, but a rather poor one, however, The Novgorodians are building a grand new capital on The Gulf of Finland called Saint Petersburg, all the while their local Orthodox population must deal with Catholic missionaries from The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and from Scandinavia. The next big war in Europe will be the war for Romagna between our alliance, The Spanish-Papal alliance, and The Habsburg alliance, but after that, the next massive war could very well be in the north as The Kingdom of Denmark, The Kingdom of Norway, The Kingdom of Sweden, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, The Grand Republic of Novgorod, and The Grand Principality of Muscovy all compete for power, or perhaps Europe's next big war will deal with The Holy Roman Empire finally dealing with its growing heretical population of so-called protestants, perhaps The Ottomans may attempt yet another strike against the good Christian people of Europe, or perhaps England will prey on its weakened enemies on The European continent, I didn't know what the future of Europe will be, but I do know that, before all that, there will be a war over Romagna, and that war will determine the role of The Duchy of Savoy going forward. If our alliance won the war, then my Duchy, hopefully turned Kingdom, could become a major regional power at very least, being able to influence events in Italia as well as the southern reaches of The Holy Roman Empire - despite our disagreements and hostility towards The Papal States, I was still determined to do what I can to keep The Holy Roman Empire Catholic, The Catholic faith may not tolerate my sexuality, but, first of all: the people of The Duchy of Savoy are Catholics and I will do what is right for them, second of all: none of these various fragmented branches of protestantism have a tolerant view of homosexuality either, and third of all: my family has always been Catholic and my lands have been Catholic since all of Italia was ruled by The Lombards, I don't think that it's in my place to change that, evidently, some Germans, including commoners, nobles, and even a few minor Princes believe that they do have the authority to decide the religion of their lands. These are turbulent times in Europe and it seems that tradition is being torn down in the pursuit of concentrated political power and devastating military power, everyday new crops from The New World come into port and transform The European diet, every day Europeans get stronger and stronger as we develop a technology advantage that puts The Orientals and Saracens to shame, and The Indians in The Americas are no match for The Spanish, The Portuguese, The English, and The French as they expand further and further into The New World, this is a very interesting time to be a European monarch, and I am very interested to see what happens in the coming decades, who knows, perhaps one day The Italians will have their very own colonies.

My brother had gotten married, we had a secret weapon up our sleeve in the form of Utrecht that could be just enough of a thorn in Spain's side that we could win the war against Spain before Austria even got involved, and the future ahead of us looked bright and exciting - I was ready to lead The Duchy of Savoy into a golden age, I was ready to forge a new Italian Kingdom and to leave The House di Savoia in an even greater place than what I inherited, and I was ready to expand my realm and create something great, from Ferrara my merchants could get involved in the great trade network of Venezia, speaking of trade, I also intended to finally annex the city of Genoa and then, perhaps with control of Spain's islands in The Western Mediterranean, my people could dominate trade from Gibraltar to Sicilia, and perhaps even beyond - I had great ambitions for Savoy, and I just hope that at least some of my dreams for my country could come true.

* * *

I sat in my throne while Ippolita stood obediently to my side, we were observing the renovations to The Palazzo di Sciamberi, the workmen were thickening the walls and putting in the pilasters to reinforce the new roof that we were going to be adding - I wasn't in very much of a mood to get crushed by my very own ceiling - once these additions were put in, the interior would be sculpted and repainted in order to have a beautiful Renaissance style and the exterior would match. The interior was being done first because the pilasters would be supporting the new roof, along with massive columns at the front of the building. I added a massive dome to The Palazzo di Torino during my reign as Marchioness of Torino between 1557 and 1565, however, I could not do the same thing here because The Palazzo di Sciamberi is just so old and the building techniques that were put into it are so outdated that the building needed renovations just to support a new ceiling, in order to add a heavy dome...we couldn't do it here, especially not an unsupported dome like the one we put into The Palazzo di Torino, but, I would make do with the currently planned renovations and once the situation for The Duchy of Savoy was a little bit safer, then I would triumphantly return to Torino and my wonderful palace, a palace that would be worthy of a Queen, and I fully intend to return to Torino as a Queen, but for now, I am a Duchess and I am here in Sciamberi, making the most of it. I watched as a messenger urgently rushed into the throne room, I had to wonder what the news was - perhaps this was a declaration of war from The Austrians - but I doubted that, because surely The Habsburgs know about the current agreement between myself and Pope Guglielmus I, this meant that our alliances would not fight each other, perhaps even we would unite together against The Austrians and push them out of Italia, permanently - perhaps a notable figure involved in the Romagna situation has died somehow, or perhaps this messenger brings news that has nothing to do with Romagna at all, maybe this is something to do with Isabelle...did something happen during her pregnancy? Is she okay? I didn't know, but the messenger was about to deliver his news, and whether it has something to do with the seeming inevitable war for Romagna or not, I would find out what it was as the messenger came up before the elevated throne and bowed, waiting for my permission to deliver his news.

"You may rise," I gave him permission "Now, speak your piece."

"My Duchess, I bring news from The Papal States, his Holiness Pope Guglielmus I has died and The College of Cardinals has chosen his successors, Cardinal Constantine of Naxos has become Pope Constantinus II."

"Has The Pope revealed his stance on the Romagna situation?" I asked.

"He has pledged that all of Italia will answer to Roma," the messenger replied, it seems that Francesca was right about The Cardinal from The Duchy of The Archipelago, apparently his work towards converting The Orthodox locals has convinced The College of Cardinals that he is the right man for the job given the issue with protestantism, but it also seems that this Pope is much, much more aggressive than any of his recent predecessors, and it seems that the war for Romagna is closer than ever. I took a deep breath as I watched a second messenger rush into the throne room.

"My Duchess!" he cried "Urgent news from Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan!"

"Speak," I gave him permission, I could already predict where this was going, the war for Romagna isn't just close, it's practically begun.

"The Duke is calling all of his allies to Milano to draft a formal declaration of war against The Papal States and their allies in The Kingdom of Spain, your presence is needed as you are his closest ally." He explained.

"Who else has been called?" I asked, just out of curiosity, I would be heading to Milano as soon as I was done here and I said my goodbyes to Ippolita.

"Everyone my Duchess," the messenger answered "The Kings of France and Naples, The Dukes of Provence, Lorraine, and Mantua, and of course yourself, a messenger was also sent to The Archbishop of Utrecht to inform him of the situation."

"Okay, I understand, all of you are dismissed!" I yelled and I watched as they departed the throne room, once the two of us were alone, I turned to Ippolita "The time has come my love, I need to go to Milano."

"I know Teresa...just remember your promise." Ippolita replied, referring to the promise I made on the beaches of Albenga.

"I will," I replied as I got up and made preparations to depart. Judgement day was here and we were about to be in what could very well be the biggest war that The Duchy of Savoy has ever been a part of, therefore, I would meet with King Rene III of France, King Ferrante II of Naples, Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan, Duke Carlo II of Mantua, Duke Charles IV of Provence, and Duke Henri III of Lorraine, and we would draft the declaration of war, the war for Romagna was about to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The War for Romagna begins next chapter, which, along with the rest of act four, will be posted later todsy.


	16. The Sardinian and Corsican War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The War for Romagna begins, where? Not Romagna!

Act IV.

The War for Romagna.

Chapter XVI.

The Sardinian and Corsican War.

* * *

I rode in my wagon into The Castello Sforzesco in Milano - much like The Palazzo di Sciamberi, The Castello Sforzesco was built around a Medieval core, however, The Castello Sforzesco was a much larger fortress and it had already been refurbished and renovated, I was only just now refurbishing and renovating The Palazzo di Sciamberi because I had only just recently become The Duchess of Savoy, and even then, I suspected that these renovations would need to get put on hold in order to finance the war effort - raising taxes enough to pay for both a massive reconstruction of a Palace and a full scale war on multiple fronts against multiple enemies - fighting this war would bring us as far away as places like Roma, Toledo, and Vienna - would not be a very popular decision, and I would rather put the renovations on hold in order to fight alongside my allies. I think that I could make it a few months before I have to call off the renovations, after all it would take time to gather an army together and establish regular payroll, at which point I would have to call off the renovations in Sciamberi, at least for the duration of the war, especially given that as we go on fighting, we would have to replace our fledgling professional army with more and more conscripts and eventually even mercenaries - my mother had done her best to motivate our people to fight for our Duchy, but we still had many, many citizens who utterly refused to fight in a war, and even when they did, we couldn't always depend on our conscripts or even lower members of our professional army to fight as passionately as our enemies, therefore, we were dependent on mercenaries from Switzerland and Germania who would fight like lions for coin - The Duchy of Savoy was doing quite well for itself right now, most of The Italian states were, however, we were by no means made for money and some things would have to be sacrificed for the war effort, even mighty nations like France, Spain, and Austria would have to make such sacrifices, but we would survive, and if all went well, then we would come out of this war stronger than before, but to get there, we would need many sacrifices, shortcuts, and mercenaries to get there.

I entered The Castello Sforzesco and met with my allies, Rene III de Valois, The King of France; Ferrante II di Napoli, The King of Naples; Carlo II Gonzaga, The Duke of Mantua; Charles IV de Valois-Anjou, The Duke of Provence, and his younger brother and vassal, Henri III de Valois-Anjou, The Duke of Lorraine; and finally, our host, Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza of Milan, we were a diverse group, Rene III was The King of France, arguably the most powerful country in western Europe, he was rich and powerful and he wanted to expand his realm anywhere and everywhere, including Italia, he sought to dominate this alliance in order to eventually turn us into his subjects, however, we wanted Italia to be free of foreign rule. Filippo Maria II was incredibly ambitious and had orchestrated this whole crisis in order to united his Duchy with his family's land in Romagna, but Romagna was just the beginning of his ambition, he would want to take Trentino from The Austrians and use it as a gateway to Venezia, and after this war, he would want to expand into Switzerland as well as Venezia, and along the way, he would likely attempt to vassalize and eventually, outright annex his neighbors in The Duchy of Mantua, The Duke of Milan wanted to rule over a realm worthy of the city of Milano, and I would be helping him every step of the way. Speaking of The Duchy of Mantua, Carlo II was no fool, he understood his situation, his realm was small and too weak to stand up against his much stronger neighbors, therefore, he allied himself with Milano and with us, which would ensure that, at very least, the lands of The House of Gonzaga would remain in Italian hands. Ferrante II was only the second King of an independent Naples, and his realm was still disputed with The Spanish House of Borgia, so what he wanted with this war is to force The Spaniards to abandon their claims to The Kingdom of Naples and The Kingdom of Sicily, this goal was in line with our goals as it would ensure that the various states of Italia would be strong and in the hands of Italian rulers. The House de Valois-Anjou was an interesting case, as the dynasty is now heavily intertwined with The French crown given that The House de Valois-Anjou is a cadet branch, the family's main possession at this point is The Kingdom of Jerusalem, however, the family's oldest possession was The Duchy of Provence, now, up until recently The Duchy of Lorraine was ruled in a personal union with The Duchy of Provence, however, Charles IV awarded Lorraine to his brother in order to concentrate more upon his main Duchy, in any case, both of these brothers were in a precarious position as Rene III intended to annex the both of them sooner rather than later, however, we couldn't help them, our mission was to keep foreign powers out of Italia, our mission was not to completely and utterly limit The French crown from expanding, therefore, Provence and Lorraine would have to be sacrificial lambs to Rene III, hopefully they would be enough to keep his attention away from Italia as we consolidated our position, but for now, we were allied with France and we had a different war to fight. A war where I would be fighting, first and foremost, to recover my father's lands in the former Duchies of Ferrara and Modena, after that, I would focus on trying to annex at least some of Spain's territory in the island Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica. In any case, we were all here and we were all going create a declaration of war against Spain - not Austria however, not yet anyway, ideally, we would want to crush The Spaniards before The Austrians could even enter the war, this way, we could then focus on eliminating Austria almost exclusively. The declaration of war went as follows:

_To King Juan III Borgia of Spain and Pope Constantinus II, this is a formal declaration of war._

_The Romagna region has long been part of The Papal States, however, members of The House of Sforza are now major land holders in Romagna, particularly there is The Lordship of Imola and The Lordship of Forli, these vassals have been forced to pay homage and oppressive taxes to fund the secular Papal state as well as separate religious funding to The Papacy itself - which all Catholic monarchs pay, regardless of their relationship with The Papal States - now, it is the duty of The Duchy of Milan to reunite The Sforza in Romagna with the crown jewel of The House of Sforza. It is the duty of The Kingdom of France to recover The King of Spain's wrongful lands in the former Free County of Burgundy, as Burgundy had been vassal to France, and The Papal enclave of Avignon will be annexed as well, as the land is rightfully within France, it is the duty of The Kingdom of France to liberate The Basque people from their Spanish conquerors and reestablish the personal union between The Kingdom of France and The Kingdom of Navarre. It is the duty of The Kingdom of Naples and Sicily to properly establish its independence and to force The Kingdom of Spain to abandon all claims to Naples and Sicily. It is the duty of The Duchies of Provence and Lorraine to support their flesh and blood ally in The Kingdom of France in order to bring about the rightful distribution of land in Francia and Italia. It is the duty of The Duchy of Savoy to support its allies in The Duchy of Milan and The Kingdom of Naples in order to ensure that all of Italia is strong, independent, and healthy, including the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, as well as to support the efforts of France to ensure a rightful distribution of land and a more favorable balance of power in western Europe. We have hoped for a peaceful resolution to hostilities, we have hoped that this war could have been avoided, but we have repeatedly seen aggression and stubbornness from Spain and from The Papal States: you have failed to renounce claims to Naples and Sicily, you have failed to cede The Free County of Burgundy to The Kingdom of France, you have supported a rebellion in The Duchy of Savoy upon the succession of the late Duchess Giovanna Vittoria II, and you have promised to wage war throughout Italia. This is a list of unacceptable grievances that leaves us with no choice other than to declare war and resolve these disputes by force._

_Signed,_

__Filippo Maria II, Duke of Milan._ _

__

__

_Rene III de Valois, King of France and King of Navarre._

_Ferrante II di Napoli, King of Naples and King of Sicily. ___

____

__

_Carlo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua._

_Charles IV de Valois-Anjou, Duke of Provence._

_Henri III de Valois-Anjou, Duke of Lorraine._

_and Teresa I di Savoia, Duchess of Savoy, Duchess of Monferrato, Duchess of Ferrara, and Duchess of Modena._

The declaration of war was specifically tailored to layout our claims and to paint our cause as just as possible, even if we were essentially attacking The Papal States and Spain in a war of aggression, now, we also made a few bold claims in our individual statements - for instance, King Rene III laid out his claims to The Kingdom of Navarre, The Free County of Burgundy, and Avignon, even just the fact he used Navarre, which is The French spelling, rather than Navarra, which is Spain's name for the region that once made up that particular Kingdom, in any case, it was clear that Rene III was in this war exclusively for land and it was clear that Provence and Lorraine were essentially operating as his vassals, having no individual goals from this war, Provence wouldn't even be getting Avignon out of this, despite Avignon having belonged to The Duchy of Provence before it became part of The Papal States in The Late Middle Ages. I responded to this by stating that I was fighting for ensuring that the various states of Italia would be free of foreign rule, I also revealed the whole incident with the foreign support for the noble uprising in Nizza right after I came to the throne, however, I did not state exactly who was involved because I did respect Pope Guglielmus I for his efforts to resolve the crisis and I did not reveal his involvement, so most likely, people who didn't know the full truth would assume that it was The Spanish who were the ones behind the rebellion in Nizza rather than The Papal States, and finally, I set up for the war against The Habsburgs by signing with my claims to Ferrara and Modena, and there is no doubt in my mind that The Archduke of Austria will request to read this declaration of war as soon as he hears word of it, therefore, The Austrians will know exactly what I'm fighting for, and I had absolutely no problem with that, because everyone knew that the land was mine by right, however, The House von Habsburg used their political marriages as a claim to Ferrara and stole it from my father after my grandfather's death. The declaration of war was done and we made arrangements for a copy to be made by the scribes, there would be two physical copies: one would be sent to Toledo and the other would be sent to Roma, everyone else in Europe would hear about this was within weeks.

* * *

I arrived in Nizza with The Armata di Savoia - we were not at war with Austria yet so I could leave the mainland relatively undefended for now, because Spain would be unable to invade Savoy as France is in the way and The Papal States cannot invade as Mantua and Milano are in the way, now, theoretically, Spain could invade from The Free County of Burgundy, but that would be a very, very bad idea as The Lothringian Army of Henri III will invade The Free County of Burgundy as soon as my army reached Corsica - I was leading an amphibious invasion of Sardinia and Corsica along with Duke Charles IV of Provence with the mission of conquering the islands early on. Spain had a massive navy, however, their navy was preoccupied with colonies in The New World and therefore, Spain would not be able to respond to such an invasion with anything near the full force of their navy. I changed into my suit of armor - they same one I wore when I put down that rebellion not far from this very port - before getting out of the carriage and oversaw the preparations for the departure - The Armata di Savoia was a large force and we needed a number of transport vessels to take us to Corsica, even if it wasn't very far away at all - once everything was ready, I boarded The flagship, The Savoia, our largest and most heavily armed ship, this was truly the only vessel in our arsenal worthy of carrying the name of my dynasty, the dynasty that was ruled from Sciamberi for centuries before expanding into Italia, into Switzerland, and who knows where The Duchy of Savoy will expand to in the near future? I didn't know, but I was ambitious and I certainly had some ideas of what I wanted to do, but before I could execute any of my ideas, I would have to fight like a lion and win this war. I gave a quick prayer as Captain Francois made final preparations for The Savoia to set sail - I wasn't particular religious, especially given the nature of my sexuality, but I did believe in God and I still tried to live in accordance to Catholic values for the most part - the prayer wasn't just for my voyage, but also because Pietro had left his young wife in Sciamberi and departed with The Armata di Monferrato to help reinforce The Milanese and Mantuan armies as they advanced to Romagna, The French were fielding four armies, the largest heading for Spain itself, the second heading for The Spanish Netherlands, a third would soon arrived in The Free County of Burgundy to support Duke Henri III, and the final French army was on its way to Romagna, however, it was heading all the way from Lyon, so it would take some time before they arrived, meanwhile, Naples was raising two armies and they were both invading The Papal States from the south - we hoped to force The Papal States to fight on two fronts so that we could exhaust and defeat them - in a perfect world, we would reach Roma before Austria declared war and we could win the war against Spain and The Papal States then and there, but even the most optimistic member of our alliance would consider such a crushing and rapid victory to be virtually impossible when we're up against the might Spanish Empire. I was worried for my little brother, he was up against a lot and he would be fighting hardened Umbrian infantry, elite Swiss mercenaries, and Spanish tercios...I would head to Romagna as soon as I was done here with Sardinia and Corsica, leaving behind a small amount of Savoyard and Provencal troops to garrison the local fortifications - after all, we didn't want to conquer these islands just to immediately lose them again, instead we would use their very own fortifications against them.

The Savoyard armada got closer and closer to Corsica as we raised the red and white flag of The Duchy of Savoy, I looked out to my right and I saw The Provencal ships were joining us, I smiled when I saw The Rene d'Anjou, the flagship of The Duchy of Provence, Charles IV was here and we were ready to defeat each and every layer of Spanish defense. I took my position next to Captain Francois - he was a native of Nizza and thus his name was still French, but I wasn't going to force him to change his own name, I did not intend to be tyrannical - Captain Francois and I watched as two Spanish warships escorted by a few schooners approached us from Corsica - these must just be the local ships, they didn't stand a chance against us, therefore, I was pretty certain that the goal was to by the local garrison a little more time to reinforce the local star fort rather than an actual form of resistance - realistically, this was two opponents and a few floating grievances that had little purpose in outright war on the seas. We would make short work of this pitiful excuse for a Spanish fleet, in fact, we may very well come out of this battle with a larger fleet is we can successfully capture those two vessels rather than sinking them - I had no use for those schooners, nor did I have nearly enough captains to put them to any use. In any case, we would have to fight these ships before we could do anything with them, so I order the crew of The Savoia to prepare for combat, the rest of the ships of my fleet followed suit and we would soon engage in a Battle of The Ligurian Sea, two Spanish warships against two fleets...we would win this battle, but we couldn't waste too much time with this blatant distraction, or else the star fort on Corsica may be virtually unseigeable, let alone the multiple fortresses on the larger island of Sardinia...this particular theater of war wasn't necessarily going to be an easy one.

The Battle of The Ligurian Sea began as Captain Francois began turning The Savoia in order to engage The Spanish vessels with our broadside cannons - broadside cannons were a relatively recent invention and it was quite expensive to outfit ships this way, but we knew that war was on the horizon, therefore, when The Savoia was built during my mother's reign, it was built with two decks of cannons, now, that made The Savoia perhaps the most heavily armed ship in Italia, however, this was only the case for our flagship, we could not outfit our other ships with more than one deck, however, cannons were still cannons and we had a vast numerical advantage and therefore, we would tear apart these two Spanish ships and their pathetic escort. I ordered the ship to aim at the schooners first, we would squash these pests first and foremost, and besides, I didn't want to damage The Spanish ships too much as I'd still like to capture them - The Spanish navy was one of the best in Europe, rivalled only by Portugal and England, therefore, not only were their ships high quality vessels, but a captured one would be quite the treasure, and perhaps they could even act as a Trojan horse later in the war when things got a little more intensive later in the war. I gave the order and the ships fired, I watched as the cannon balls tore apart the schooners - I saw hulls pierced by balls of fiery metal, I saw holes punched into sails which then caught fire, and I saw masts crack and split apart as some of our cannon balls went high. The other ships in our fleet followed suit and soon enough, the schooners were finished off. Our ships split into two groups and managed to isolate one of The Spanish warships, meanwhile, we would leave the other one to The Provencal fleet. The crew prepared the smaller guns on the forecastle and aftercastle - the guns up here were smaller because of how high up we were compared to the surface of the water, therefore, having heavy guns up here, like the guns we have on the two lower decks, would greatly disrupt the balance of this ship - especially given that there's concerns such as high waves and heavy winds - and we used these deck guns to begin firing on the deck of The Spanish warship - The Spanish couldn't use their own broadsides at this distance because we were close enough that using broadsides would damage both ships. The crew of this Spanish vessel realized their predicament and surrendered, we stopped firing, and a few moments later, I saw that The Provencal fleet had sunk the other Spanish vessel - perhaps the thought of capturing The Spanish warships hadn't occurred to Duke Charles IV, or perhaps the crew of that particular ship didn't leave him with a choice. In any case, this pitiful and likely ragtag Spanish fleet, surely just a sacrificial lamb to act as a distraction, and I had won my war trophy, now Corsica awaits.

* * *

We landed in the strait between Sardinia and Corsica, this would allow us to attack the star fort from the side they least expected while also expediting our eventual transportation to the larger island, so I lead the now disembarked army to the star fort, including our artillery, plus some extra heavy guns taken off of the Spanish warship - we needed everything we could get in terms of artillery in order to besiege a star fort, the wide, low walls, the bastions, and of course the actual defenders manning the fort would make capturing this fortress quite difficult, however, because of the geography of Corsica meant that the local Spanish fortifications couldn't be all that big, as there simply was not enough space for something like that, but The Spanish would have built the best fortification that they possibly could, as they surely know that Sardinia and Corsica were the closest parts of Spain to Italia. I positioned my artillery on the hills around the fortress and my army surrounded it, we would not come quite close enough to be within their effective artillery range, instead we would take this slow and choke them out of the war, while my artillery, placed high enough that, when bent back, we could rain down fire on the interior of the star fort. We knew that we couldn't simply charge this fortress and hope to break it down, after all the star fort was created with the sole purpose of standing up to artillery, therefore, gone were the days of catapults and battering rams, not it was an era of patience and forcing the enemy to either surrender or starve to death, this was siege warfare. The Siege of Corsica had begun.

Over the course of two weeks, we besieged the star fortress, cannons would fire on the hour, every hour, until finally, an unarmed Spaniard rushed out of the fortress waiving a white banner of surrender, he revealed that he was the commander of the fortress and he would not let his Spanish men, young men from north of Spain, waste away and die over an Italian island, so they gave up their arms, surrendered their badges and other markings of rank, and we allowed them to leave the star fort and return to Spain as civilians. I watched and smiled along with Duke Charles IV of Provence as The Burgundian Cross, the flag of The Spanish Empire, was torn off of flagpole and the flag of The Duchy of Savoy was raised over Corsica - it was my first victory of the war, hopefully the first of many as I left a small garrison to guard this fortress before the myself and the rest of The Armata di Savoia, along with The Provencal Army, departed for Sardinia, where I'd imagine the fighting would be significantly heavier, but we will find a way, and we will conquer Sardinia just like how we conquered Corsica.

We camped on the shores of Corsica for the night before crossing the strait between Sardinia and Corsica in the morning, we were now on the larger island and we had two major targets to deal with in order to conquer this island: Sassari and Cagliari. Sassari would be our first target, as the second largest city of Sardinia is on the northern coast of the island, which means we would need to deal with it in order to head to the crown jewel of Sardinia, their largest and most cultural city, their main trading port, and their capital in the form of Cagliari. We were able to conquer Corsica relatively easily, as the island was left in the hands of a Spanish garrison who didn't want to starve and die over a distant and underdeveloped island from their perspective, however, Sardinia had a larger population that Corsica, and I very much expected that Sassari and Cagliari's forts would be stocked with Sardinian troops who have pledged their loyalty to The Spanish crown - though I'd imagine that their commanders would be Spaniards regardless - these Sardinian loyalists would be a much bigger threat than their allies in Corsica, as not only were they fighting for their Kingdom, but they were also fighting for their island, for their home. I didn't quite understand what these loyalists saw in The Spanish crown, but evidently they loved their conquerors so much that they were willing to raise their arms against their fellow Italians on behalf of a foreign King reigning from a far away city and preoccupied with a far away colonial Empire, but for whatever reason, the loyalists and Spaniards would be fighting against us like lions, and I would need to prove that my army is an army of lion tamers, therefore, I marched off in the direction of the city of Sassari, with The Armata di Savoia at my back and the land I wished to one day rule over ahead of me: the war was in full swing now.

As we neared the city of Sassari a Sardinian loyalist army arrived to match us, groups of pikemen arranged in Spanish tercio formations, artillery, and cavalry, The Armata di Savoia was now up against a proper modern enemy army. I let my army pass me and I stayed at the back, observing the battle and commanding my army from the elevated position of my horse, in relative safety given that my army was between myself and the enemy, but in a world of increasingly powerful and versatile firearms and state-of-the-art artillery, I wasn't exactly immune to dying in battle, but I was determined to survive this war and come out of it stronger than when I entered it. I watched as the battle escalated, The Armata di Savoia had managed to force The Sardinians into a tight pyramid shape with their artillery stuck useless at the rear, unable to hit my army without hitting their own soldiers, however, forcing The Sardinians into a pyramid formation was also a very risky move, as The Tercios could very well end up splitting my army apart, I knew that I had to take a risk in order to avoid seeing my army split into two and picked apart, but before I could do anything, I had to wait and see what these Sardinian loyalists would do with their cavalry. The answer was soon revealed as The Spanish officers sent The Sardinian cavalry charging into the heart of the battle, designed to be the crushing blow to split my army apart, but this also meant that The Sardinians had committed fully to this pyramid formation, so I would try the very same risky situation that I used to devastating effect against the noble rebellion in Nizza at the beginning of my reign. I moved my cannons onto the front lines of the left and right flank, I had my artillerymen move all the way up and angle their cannons into The Sardinian army while remaining as far away from my troops as possible. I took a deep breath and then I gave the order - I watched as my cannons once again tore into The Sardinian army, I saw as their own artillerymen panicked and, in the confusion, even fired a volley of cannon fire into their own troops. At this point, in The Battle of Nizza, the rebellion army completely collapsed into disarray and ran off to Monaco where we finished them off, but despite the devastating tactics and that horrid blunder from their own men, The Sardinians were a well disciplined army and they regained their composure and attempted to break out of the pyramid formation. I desperately ordered my artillery to retreat as Sardinians and Spaniards alike charged my left and right flank, putting my artillerymen in grave danger - I had overestimated the effect of this tactic, against low grade rebel rabble, such a risky tactic would work, but in real warfare, this was not a good idea and I was immediately regretting it.

However, just as it seemed my strategic blunder had doomed The Sardinian campaign from the get-go, I saw Provencal cavalry charging down the hills from behind The Sardinians, I watched as the banners of The Duke of Provence came over the hill top and Duke Charles IV de Valois-Anjou lead his troops into the rear of The Sardinian army, we had them pinned on two fronts now, soon enough their Tercios were stuck trying to fight pike-and-shot formations from two sides, our infantry was slaughtering their artillery crew and capturing their cannons, I watched as even their trained war horses became panicked and tried to escape the battle, I do admit that I got lucky when Duke Charles IV arrived, but I still felt proud when a white flag of surrender was waived high above the battlefield. The first real battle of The Sardinian and Corsican War was over, The Savoyard and Provencal forces had prevailed over Spain's army of Sardinian loyalist, we had won The Battle of Sassari and our armies marched forward to occupy the city itself and raise a Savoyard flag over the second largest city of the island as a mark of our first victory in a land battle of this particular theater of The War for Romagna, a war much, much bigger than the actual territorial disputes in central Italia that are fueling all this fighting to begin with.

"Thank you Charles," I said quietly as we sat on our horses, leading our armies towards Sassari to capture the city, we had released The Sardinians with families and children and allowed them to go home, but we had taken the soldiers who were all alone as prisoners of war, we would use them as hostages in order to bloodlessly conquer Sassari, at which point we would imprison them in the local dungeons before The Armata di Savoia and The Army of Duke Charles IV continued south to Cagliari, at which point, both Corsica and Sardinia would effectively be under Savoyard occupation - there was no need to visit every small village and raise our flag over every local castle - we had defeated The Spanish forces on the islands and we were about to occupy the major cities, that was all that we needed to do and after that, I was going to return to The Italian mainland where I would meet with Pietro in Romagna, where he was leading The Armata di Monferrato. I just saw how quickly the tide of battle could turn against these professional troops, even these Sardinian loyalists were armed with state-of-the-art Spanish equipment, so I was sure that in Romagna, the place where the fighting was likely to be the heaviest fighting was going to be. Spain would send their armies to Italia to help bolster The Papal ranks and to fight against The Neapolitan armies, not to mention the actual Umbrian troops that are supposed to make up the core of The Holy Army of The Papal States, though in actuality, The Papal States were highly dependent on elite Swiss mercenaries, proud and heavily armed Switzers who would fight to the death for coin, wielding halberds rather than pikes and favoring their polearms more than any other army, but they didn't care, they would stab, chop, and hook with one weapon while their enemies could only stab or grab a completely different weapon and shoot. The Swiss approach was a brutal approach and for now, it still worked, however times were changing and firearms were getting much more advanced, perhaps in a few generations from now, pikes and halberds may be entirely obsolete and armies would constantly wield their firearms.

"There is no need Teresa, we're in this together," he replied, also being quiet as this was a private conversation. We had taken losses in the battle, however, The Provencal army had arrived soon enough that we hadn't actually lost any of our cannons, though we had lost several brave artillery men who stood against The Sardinian loyalists, because they knew that, if we lost our artillery, the results would be absolutely catastrophic - however, thanks to The Provencal Duke's timely arrival, we had come out of the battle stronger than we had entered it, given that we had managed to capture the weapons and cannons that The Sardinian loyalists were using - now, the soldiers were well aware that they couldn't steal The Spanish muskets that these Sardinians were using, after all the Spanish guns were designed for different ball calibers, used different types of gunpowder, and were generally designed differently, however, I wasn't going to keep my soldiers from grabbing Spanish pikes and sabers, whether to use them as weapons or simply to take the home as war trophies. I appreciated that Duke Charles didn't consider me a failure or anything like that, he must have been aware of what I was trying to do and he must have seen that the risky attack did indeed have a devastating effect on The Sardinian loyalists and even startled one of their artillery crews enough to fire on their own men - surely their cannons must have been loaded and ready, advancing to wherever they could hit us, but the rear man panicked and hit the flint. In any case, thanks to good fortune, my armies had survived the battle and won it, The Sardinians wanted to split my army and now, they were marching along with our army as prisoners of war - we had won.

We marched in Sassari to divided reactions - there were some who saw us as heroes, liberators here to bring about the end of Spanish rule, then there were those who were loyal to The Spaniards and saw us as conquerors, there were people who were cynics and would reserve judgement until after this war was over and a peace treaty were signed, and lastly, there was the apathetic, those who just wanted to live their lives and saw the political and military intrigue of their lives as little more than gossip material. I got off of my horse and a minor officer handed me a flag as I walked up to the central flagpole of Sassari, I pulled down their flag and tore The Burgundian cross off of the flagpole and attached The Savoyard flag in its place. I pulled the ropes up so that the flag came onto the top. I smiled as I saw the red flag with its white cross through the center, with the letters FERT arranged in the squares formed by the white cross in the center, FERT stood for the motto of The House di Savoia, my dynasty, a dynasty whose flag now flies over Sardinia for the first time - I could feel it in my heart that this was only the beginning, I was The Duchess of Savoy, I was The Matriarch of The House di Savoia at the moment, I would be the one to determine the role of my dynasty in history from this point forward, I knew now that our future was not with Sciamberi and Nizza - I could put an Italian coat of paint over those cities as many times as I wanted, but they were still just French cities under Italian rule, Savoy was a French title, it was a French Duchy, I was an Italian, I had spent the last eight years of my life feeling completely at home in Torino, in the heart of Piemonte, the future for The House di Savoia was in Piemonte and I saw now that it was also in Sardinia. The Sardinian people were a divided lot right now, but I would win them over, because when I saw the red flag with its white cross against the blue sky, it all felt right and I knew in my heart that, rather than forging a Savoyard Kingdom, perhaps I should forge a Sardinian and Piedmontese Kingdom. This was the feeling echoing through my mind as we imprisoned the loyalist soldiers and continued to Cagliari, once again, the flag of The House di Savoia was flying over a Sardinian city and once again, it felt right in my heart. I had conquered Sardinia and I intended for this to be more than just an occupation, this was a feeling that I didn't get during The Siege of Corsica, this was a feeling that I probably won't get elsewhere, not even in Ferrara and Modena, because I didn't know, but this felt like a sign from God. I had a new purpose from this war, so me and my armies departed from the port of Cagliari, leaving Duke Charles IV of Provence to capture the star forts in Sassari and Cagliari - we had conquered the cities themselves, but there was still work to do on the island, but I had to go and help my little brother, because behind all the joy and determination fueled by seeing the flag over Sardinia, there was a feeling of dread over what was going on with Pietro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the lack of Romagna in this chapter, we'll be there in the next one. I'm not sure if this author's note is funny to anyone but me, but I hope you enjoyed it, if not, I hope you atleast enjoyed the chapter.


	17. The First Romagna Campaign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter is why there is a major character death warning on this story.

Act IV.

The War for Romagna.

Chapter XVII.

The First Romagna Campaign.

* * *

The Armata di Savoia left our ships in Nizza, fresh from The Sardinian and Corsican War as Duke Charles IV de Valois-Anjou of Provence finished off the final remnants of Spanish and Sardinian Loyalist resistance on the islands, meanwhile, his younger brother was attacking The Spaniards in the former Free County of Burgundy, Duke Filippo Maria II Visconti of Milano, Duke Carlo II Gonzaga of Mantua, and my brother Pietro di Savoia with The Armata di Monferrato lead our armies into Romagna itself, King Ferrante II di Napoli was attacking The Papal States from the south and thus preventing The Pope from committing all his forces to Romagna - after all, Napoli was not very far from Roma itself. All the while, the armies of King Rene III of France would be fighting on each and every front, while in secret, The Archbishop of Utrecht prepares to take The Spanish Netherlands from behind. The War for Romagna was in full swing and I was worried, my brother was a decent swordfighter and he fancied himself as a General, but he had no experience, neither did I really, that noble rebellion was nothing compared to The Sardinian Loyalists, who took cannon fire directly and were still able to recover and likely could have overwhelmed our forces if it wasn't for Duke Charles IV - I've at very least had that learning experience, but Pietro doesn't have that...maybe I shouldn't have let him lead The Armata di Monferrato, especially given that he's only just married his young wife and he had his whole life against him. I was scared, I had a lingering feeling that when I gave Pietro permission to be my General and my second-in-command, I may have unknowingly signed his death warrant. Over the last few years, I had lost my father, I had lost my mother, and now, I don't know what I would do if I lost Pietro too on top of all that. I tried to shake off that feeling and stay focused on leading my troops to Romagna - after all, I had no idea what's happened there quite yet - but as I reached the top of the dock at Nizza, I saw a very familiar face. I smiled and rushed over to hug Ippolita, I didn't know why, but she came here to visit me.

"Ippolita!" I yelled as I finally reached her and I hugged her and felt the weight of the world dissipate off of my shoulders as I felt the warm embrace of my lover and my confidant "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too Teresa," she whispered into my ear before breaking away slightly, but she kept her hands on my shoulders and stayed close to me - between travelling from Sciamberi to Milano, drafting the declaration of war, and then returning to The Duchy of Savoy to gather up an army before finally leading them here to Nizza so that we could depart for Corsica, and then the actual fighting on Sardinia and Corsica, at this point, a few months had passed since I last saw my lover, and therefore, neither of us particularly wanted to let go of each other "How did it go?"

"We defeated The Sardinian loyalists, conquered Corsica, and occupied Sassari and Cagliari, Duke Charles IV is going to finish off the star forts before arriving back here in Italia to join us in Romagna." I explained, it wasn't necessary to capture every town and village on Sardinia, but we couldn't just allow Spanish fortresses to remain on the island, so Duke Charles IV would need to do that, but I was worried about my little brother - then again, I suppose that I'm being pretty damn selfish right now, because Duke Henri III of Lorraine, fighting hard in The Free County, is the younger brother of Charles IV, and he's probably just as rash and inexperienced as Pietro, trying to make a name for himself and escape the shadow of his brothers in Provence and Jerusalem, but Charles IV seemed confidant enough in his younger brother, more than I was in Pietro at very least.

"Good, good." Ippolita replied as I looked over to my officers, who weren't sure what to do given that I was having a private conversation when I should have been leading my armies to Romagna, I turned back to reluctantly say my goodbyes to Ippolita when I noticed that Francesca Acciaioli, Pietro's wife, was with her, now I was curious as to why they were both here.

"Hello Francesca, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I want to see my husband." she responded, determined to see Pietro...I suspected that she had similar concerns as I did, Pietro was good at a lot of things, but he was not a proven General and I may have made a very poor decision when I allowed him to take that position.

"Francesca..." I tried to make a rebuttal, saying that they wouldn't be safe or that we didn't have supplies for them or something like that, but I knew that we could let them remain at our war camps while the army marched forward into battle, I knew that supplies would not be an issue so close to our allies in The Duchy of Milan and in The Duchy of Mantua, both of which either directly bordered The Papal States or were close enough that supplies would not be an issue whatsoever. I sighed and realized that I really had no excuse, and even if I did, before I could even respond with anything, Ippolita jumped in with her retort.

"We're going with you Teresa, one way or another." Ippolita knew that she didn't have to say anything else, she was entirely aware that I knew she wasn't bluffing, if I said no, Ippolita would just walk and follow my marching army, leaving me with no choice, I had to accept this.

"Okay, okay, fine, join us, just be careful and don't get yourselves killed." I responded before I prepared my army to go and march all the way to Romagna, travelling through The Duchy of Milan until we reached the border with Habsburg Ferrara - Austria has still not declared war on us, so we should be able to cross through that territory and reached Papal Romagna, where the heavy fighting would take place.

* * *

Our armies marched through The Duchy of Milan on our way to Romagna, we headed south from Milano to Parma, the southernmost major city within The Duchy of Milan and geographically, the westernmost point of Romagna. We rested for the night in Parma before pensively passing through The Duchy of Modena - belonging to The Ferrara branch of The House of Habsburg - on our way to our alliance's main war camp in the northern reaches of The Papal States, we were pensive because Ferrara and Modena were Habsburg lands and everyone knew that war between us and The Austrians was inevitable, especially given because Ferrara and Modena were rightfully mine, but I did not want to be the one to start the war against The Habsburgs, not yet anyway - ideally, war with Austria would not begin until Spain and The Papal States were crushed and defeated, but Austria was well aware that they did not want to face the full might of our alliance, they would want to get involved in the war when our alliance and The Papal alliance were devoting all their resources to fighting each other, because The Habsburgs, while very capable of fighting the strongest nations in Europe, they would prefer to be scavengers, benefitting from our war.

I was well aware that, even if we won this war, we may very well lose the peace, as The Austrians were smart, they would likely use this war to solidify their personal union over Hungary, equipping The Hungarian armies with Austrian equipment with an excuse of simplifying supplies, merging Hungarian armies with Austrians ones as and when the circumstances called for it, and bringing together the economies of the two nations in order to fund the war effort - The Habsburgs would surely use this war in order to ensure that The Kingdom of Hungary was nothing more than a title and that the two realms were so deeply interwoven that separation was virtually unthinkable, meanwhile, we were determined from preventing Austria's rival, France, from forcing us into effectively becoming subjects of The French crown, therefore, Austria would no doubt use this war to consolidate their realms while our alliance would instead be strengthening the individual factions within the umbrella of our alliance - France would gain control of The Free County of Burgundy and likely The Kingdom of Navarra from Spain, Milan would gain control of Romagna and eventually, we would likely cede Modena to Milan in exchange for Novara and completing the region of Piemonte - Modena was a much richer city than Novara, however, it was also distant and landlocked, we would not be able to easily govern that city or its Duchy, meanwhile, Ferrara, while being more distant, is at very least a port, and given that my grandfather's primary title was The Duke of Ferrara, I was prioritizing the annexation of Ferrara, I would allow Modena to become part of The Duchy of Milan and allow The House of Sforza a continuous realm from The Alps just north of Milano to The Adriatic Sea off the coast of Romagna. The Sforza would also desire control of Trentino and South Tyrol from The Austrians, along with freedom to invade Switzerland, despite Switzerland being a member of The Holy Roman Empire. I wanted my father's rightful lands in Ferrara and I now was determined to annex Sardinia and shed my dynasty's French roots. Our alliance was perhaps the strongest alliance in the war, but all of us are fighting for selfish goals and not necessarily for each other.

Milano and Savoy were close allies and I intend to continue close cooperation, however, I was not as close with our allies in France, Naples, or Provence, France because of King Rene III's blatant Italian ambitions, Naples because of how distant the realm is, and Provence because of their position as a de facto vassal of France - all that needs to happen is for their French cousin to begin demanding tribute from Provence and Lorraine in order for this de facto vassalage to become de jure. Our alliance was strong, but The Austrian alliance was linked by blood and The Spanish alliance with The Pope was deeply linked throughout history, between The Pope supporting Spanish claims to essentially the entire New World, The House of Borgia's history with actually having two members of their dynasty having had become Pope, and the fact that The Papal States helped The Borgia become Kings of Spain to begin with, given that the minor Aragonese dynasty originally known as The House de Borja didn't exactly have a particularly legitimate claim to the throne, but after the fall of The House de Trastamara and the resulting civil war in The Kingdom of Castille, The Borgia, who included The Pope at this point, seized the opportunity to fight for their relatives and claim Castille for them, eventually, The Borgia came out on top, and due to Aragon's failures to secure Castille for themselves, and a rebellion from The Kingdom of Naples meant that Aragon soon lost fell under The House of Borgia as well, leaving all of Iberia except for Portugal in the hands of one dynasty, leading to the formation of The Kingdom of Spain, and solidifying an alliance with The Papal States. These two alliances were concrete and forged by blood, history, and steel, our alliance was forged by circumstances and greed, and because of that, I was concerned with what would happen after this war - I could very much see this alliance dividing into two, if not collapsing entirely. One half would be The French half, consisting of The Kingdom of France, The Duchy of Provence, and The Duchy of Lorraine, meanwhile, their would be The Italian half, consisting of The Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, The Duchy of Milan, The Duchy of Mantua, and of course, us, The Duchy of Savoy, and at that point, it's not like our enemies will be satisfied by the course of events and not seize the opportunity to attack us, therefore, I was very concerned, even if things were going rather well at the moment and I managed to lead The Armata di Savoia through The Duchy of Modena without incident.

We arrived in northern Romagna and set up some war camps near our allies, we pitched tents and we set up palisade walls to protect us and we set up the central camp fires for the soldiers. I had no doubt that my allies would want to plan an offensive soon, after all, we were already in Romagna and we needed to press our advantage, because The Habsburgs were well aware that our armies passed through their Duchy, The Pope was well aware that we were setting up war camps within his borders, and The King of Spain was well aware that we had already taken control of Sardinia and Corsica, that Duke Henri III had likely already conquered The Free County of Burgundy and moved north to Luxembourg whilst The French armies were deployed in all directions in order to fight The Spanish, fight The Papal States, and to be fully ready to respond to The Austrians when they inevitably declare war upon us. We were all fully mobilized and we were all ready for the real fighting to begin. I spent the day overseeing the construction of the war camps and even helping out to the best of my abilities, this process took up the entire day and at the end of all it all, I was about to retire to my tent with Ippolita when I say an armored man on horseback approaching our war camp, he was all alone but, even at a distance, I already knew who it was, I got up and rushed over to him as he hitched his horse and got off of it, before giving me a hug, I was glad to see my little brother again, I've been so worried about Pietro ever since I left Nizza for Sardinia and Corsica, and to finally see him again, alive and well, made me feel like the weight of the world was off of my shoulders.

"Pietro!" I said "How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good," he replied, assuring me "How did the war in Sardinia go?"

"The islands are under our control, Duke Charles IV of Provence is finishing up the conquest of the islands. I felt something on Sardinia, I don't know why or what, but I want to rule over Sardinia, I want to rule over an Italian Kingdom centered around Torino and around Sardinia. This can be the foundation of the future of The House di Savoia...if we can win this war, we can transform Italia, we can make something great...I'm excited Pietro, but I'm also worried, we had to fight these Sardinian Loyalists and...they almost defeated us Pietro, I'm worried...for both of us, this is a lot more than just some greedy noble rebels bickering with each other almost as much as they bickered with us. Ippolita is worried, Francesca is worried..." I knew that I was rambling but there was a lot that I wanted to get out of my chest and there was so much relief in seeing my brother alive and well that I couldn't quite focus on just one thing, and during that whole mess, I managed to find something that triggered a response from Pietro, because he urgently interrupted me.

"Francesca is here?" he asked, now much more seriously.

"Yes, she and Ippolita joined me when I returned to Nizza." I replied.

"Where is she now?" he asked, with a surprising amount of worry and urgency in his voice...I wasn't sure what this was about but I knew that, whatever this was, it was important.

"She's in there," I pointed over to her tent and he immediately went to that tent, I turned and saw that Francesca had been waiting outside of that tent, evidently having had noticed that her husband had arrived. I watched the two of them have a short conversation before the two of them closed themselves off within their tent, leaving me all alone to wonder what's going on between them.

"Do you know what's going on Ippolita?" I asked her when I reached our tent, it was larger than the others but that was just tradition with European monarchs, I would make do with a regular soldiers' tent if I needed to, however, at the moment, it's not necessary, and besides, the tent isn't just for me, it's for myself and Ippolita, then again, the soldiers also had to share their tents, so the situation is unfair anyway, but I don't know, it is what it is and I want my soldiers to know that, fancier tent or not, I'm still in the very same war camp as they are, and, just like when we put down the noble rebellion in Nizza or when we fought the war in Sardinia and Corsica, I would be leading my troops into battle. I would be at the helm of The Armata di Savoia, and at my side, at the helm of The Armata di Monferrato, would be Pietro, because, for better or for worse, I was going to let my brother be a general and fight on the front lines, though hopefully, seeing that Francesca is here too will be enough to keep him alive and away from doing anything too stupid.

"She wouldn't tell me, all she said is that she needed to see Pietro," Ippolita replied.

"Do you think...?" I asked, my voice trailed off but both of us knew exactly what I was asking about, and I suppose that it is indeed a possibility, however, I couldn't be certain, and I didn't know if Ippolita could be certain either, all that I knew is that there is definitely something going on between Pietro and Francesca, and I doubted that I was going to get an answer from either my little brother or his young Athenian wife.

"I don't know." she replied, leaving both of us considering the possibilities and wondering just what is going on in my little brother's marital life - I didn't think that it was something major such as an affair or anything like that, but on the other hand, I didn't think that Francesca Acciaioli was just here because of how worried she was over her husband, there was more to it, and as Ippolita and I fell asleep together in the privacy of our tent, I had to fall asleep with a mind full of answered questions and anticipation, both for an answer and for the battle that was surely approaching.

* * *

"March!" Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan ordered, we had four armies - The Armata di Milano under Filippo Maria II himself, The Armata di Mantua under Duke Carlo II Gonzaga of Mantua, The Armata di Monferrato under the command of my little brother, Pietro, and The Armata di Savoia under my command - we were all marching together towards Imola, we would recover that city first. Our combined army was a little under fifty thousand strong, which was fairly impressive by the standards of Italia, however, it is also four armies, therefore, it really should be a high number. Half of the troops were Milanese, which made sense since this was their war, almost twenty thousand of the troops were ours, split roughly in half between the two armies, mine was slightly larger and battle hardened after the campaign in Sardinia and Corsica - we would have lost that battle if it weren't for the timely intervention of Duke Charles IV of Provence, but, at least now we had seen what the enemy is and we could raise our expectations accordingly - however, despite the name, Pietro's army was a large and strong army and it was made up of more troops than just the troops from Monferrato. The rest of our forces was the five thousand strong army of Duke Carlo II. Our forces were almost exclusively infantry, as only The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Milano had artillery, and cavalry, while very useful, isn't overtly common in Italia, we didn't have all that many horses when compared to armies such as The Hungarians and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but we certainly had enough that we could use cavalry effectively, however, our smaller allied armies, such as The Armata di Monferrato - which was large but it was almost entirely made up of infantry units - and The Armata di Mantua were not quite as advanced or various as these two main armies of our alliance. Overall, our combined army was strong and it was modern, but we weren't quite sure what The Papal States would throw at us, and we weren't sure exactly what The Spanish were up to - The Spanish would have to send an army to Italia, but where would that army arrive? Would they retake Sardinia and Corsica? Would they land in Sicilia and focus on trying to reclaim Aragon's lost territory in The Kingdom of Naples and The Kingdom of Sicily? Or would they land directly here in Romagna and assist The Papal forces? We didn't know but we had no choice but to proceed and to fight for each and every inch of Romagnan soil against our Spanish and Papal enemies.

Ippolita and Francesca remained at the war camp with a few guards, but I still had no idea as to what was going on between Pietro and his wife, I had a few ideas but I wasn't able to confirm anything quite yet and that made me worried, I had let my brother remain as a general despite the fact that I was deeply concerned as to whether or not he was ready for real warfare, but now I was also concerned that he was going out into battle without his head in the game, that he would be distracted by thinking of whatever is going on with his marriage, and you cannot be distracted in a world of modern warfare, because our enemies wouldn't be distracted and they would be armed with pikes, with guns, and with artillery, all of which were absolutely deadly weapons and toppling an enemy commander was the ultimate success one could have in battle, if a lone gunman were to see Pietro as a weakness, he would take aim and shoot at my brother with the goal of personal glory or perhaps just the reward in gold that comes with toppling an enemy commander. I needed my brother to stay focused and to keep his head on the here and now rather than on whatever is going on with his marital life, and if he couldn't do that...then the results could be absolutely devastating, I had already lost my father and I had already lost my mother in the past few years, I did not need to lose anyone else in my life, especially not my one and only brother, and, even if we were to ignore the fact that he is my flesh and blood brother, he is also my heir and, at the moment, there is nobody that could replace him if he were to die in battle, meaning that, during all this nonsense with the war, I would have to try and arrange some loveless marriage with whatever harmless royal male I could convince to marry me while producing children of my dynasty - this was something that I certainly did not want to do, not just because of the fact that I was a homosexual woman and would never want a husband, but, the fact is that I've already had to deal with a noble rebellion trying to usurp me and raise up Pietro as a puppet to them, and indirectly, to The Papal States, so if I were to get married, I am certain that some greedy nobles will try and raise that husband to the throne under whatever stupid reason they could think of, and even then, my children would then likely be called false members of The House di Savoia and, the very cousins who objected to my mother's ascension to the throne on the basis of her gender would insist that they must usurp those children in order to ensure that the "proper" members of The House di Savoia maintained control of The Duchy. This was not something I needed as I tried to be a strong Duchess and, eventually, a strong Queen, but if Pietro gets himself killed, then that's exactly what would happen.

I knew that the best way to keep everyone safe and far away from death is to avoid war, Pietro cannot die in war if there is no war that he's involved in, however, I cared about my allies and I carried about all The Italian states, I knew that if Milan and Naples would fail, Spain would want to make the both of them their subjects, if not part of The Spanish crown outright, as well as the fact that Mantua and Parma would likely be incorporated into Papal Romagna while the coastal holdings of The Duchy of Provence would be incorporated into Papal Avignon, all of this meant that, if my alliance failed, the results would be massive, Spain would likely grow strong enough on the continent that they would hold an edge over France and over that Austrian dominated monstrosity known as The Holy Roman Empire, and The Papal States would become the strongest of The Italian states, and they would now border The Duchy of Savoy directly, which would only raise tensions between myself and The Papacy - I doubted that Pope Constantinus II was particularly pleased about all of the concessions that his predecessor, Guglielmus I had granted to me in exchange for me keeping his involvement in The Savoyard Succession Crisis a secret - which I technically still have, as, while I have revealed the incident, I did not reveal who was involved, so most foreigners would likely assume that The Spanish were involved, especially given that The House of Borgia had a reputation for wicked plots and for depravity, granted, much of that is exaggerated beyond belief, however, it is still inspired by events that are fully grounded in reality, after all, it's not for nothing that a family of minor nobility had managed to become The Pope twice and then seize The Spanish crown in a Civil War which they entered without a legitimate claim and, due to a combination of aid from The Papal States and several underhanded tactics such as assassinations, at least two false surrenders, and, according to some, an incident where a small Borgia army dressed up as peasant women, snuck into an enemy war camp, and captured an enemy general by getting him drunk and trying to seduce him...I'm not exactly sure how they managed that or how small the army was, but the fact is, given that this event may have very well actually happened, then its no wonder The Borgia have been accused of everything from being the heads of a parasitic society of Jews intent on misguiding The Papacy and dissolving The Holy Roman Empire to incest to not even being the same family that were Barons in Aragon in The Middle Ages or the family that had been elected to The Papacy twice, now, these were all far-fetched conspiracy theories, but they existed because The House of Borgia had many, many enemies, and their rise to power was very rapid and very unconventional, given that they are a great power in western Europe, this situation was not particularly pleasing to The French, The English, or The Austrians, or anyone else for that matter, there is a reason that The Papal States are Spain's only ally in Europe.

In any case, I felt that I needed to fight for my allies, and, let's not forget, I promised my mother that I would recover Ferrara and Modena, additionally, I personally wanted to rule over Sardinia and expand my holdings in Piemonte to include Novara, despite the fact that Novara is culturally and politically more aligned with my ally Milan than with myself, however, we are still Italians and I would ensure that Milano is justly compensated with Modena, which is a growing and rich city, however, its location means that it will be somewhat difficult for me to govern due to distance and a lack of a coastline, it is simply too distant and too tedious for me to be bothered with long term, however, I will still recover it temporarily in order to make sure that I fulfill my promise. Once I had all the land that I wanted, I would make myself a Queen, and eventually, I would conquer Genoa and add that declining yet still very rich city to my young and ambitious crown. As we reached the outskirts of Imola, I began fighting for my allies, Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan was at the head of this siege and the both of us placed our artillery, we could see The Papal troops panicking and rushing to the cannons, however, I also saw that many of them were armed with firearms and they were aiming inside the city rather than at us - I smiled, The Sforza Lord of Imola and his forces were rebelling against The Papal garrison, this meant that The Papal garrison were locked in a battle on both ends, caught between a massive besieging army and an internal rebellion, all of this means that this siege was practically won from the very beginning - I had a feeling that a similar situation would be the case in Forli, as Imola and Forli were both Lordships under The House of Sforza - none of The Papal vassals were members of The House di Savoia at the moment, but there have been before, and once tensions eventually die down and the dust is settled, I'm sure there will be a couple of Savoia Lords or Ladies in The Papal States, if not outright Barons or Counts - which means that, in these two cities, we find internal sympathizers, however, that will not be the case in more distant places under the control of different dynasties, many of which will be much more aligned with Pope Constantinus II and The Spanish crown than with our cause, despite the fact that all of us are Italians.

The artillery barrages began, the siege was well under way as things got increasingly hellish for The Papal so-called defenders of Imola as they had to deal with uprisings from both sides - at the moment, they didn't seem overtly worried about us, they knew that the walls would hold out from at least a few days worth of cannon fire, but the internal rebellion was a much more pressing issue, as if they lost control of Imola itself, then all their cannons and defenses would mean nothing, as those defenses were sent up to fight external threats rather than internal ones. The stage was set for a short yet very effective siege as we aimed to damage Imola just enough to force The Papal forces to surrender, but we had no desire to lose the fortress itself, for a variety of reasons - first and foremost is the fact that The Lord of Imola and his rebels are essentially a tiny member of our alliance, two: the fortress would be an excellent foothold in Romagna in case we were up against a Papal-Spanish counterattack, and a broken fortress isn't a particularly easy fortress to defend, for rather obvious reasons, and finally, because we didn't need to spend all the ammunition here, this was only the beginning of the campaign - at the moment, the plan is for Pietro and I to continue on to Forli in order to besiege and capture that city as well, before awaiting for French reinforcements to arrive in order to bolster our ranks, meanwhile, Duke Filippo Maria II and Duke Carlo II would continue on into Urbino in an attempt to drive our present advantage all the way to Roma, where, in an ideal world, we would be able to push The Papal States out of the war before The Austrians and their alliance enter it - now, Spain's ally would be out of the fight, but that would not be enough to deter The House of Borgia given that we have occupied the entirety of The Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica, which, from the perspective of The Spanish crown, is a Constituent Kingdom of Spain, but from my perspective, Sardinia and Corsica were natural parts of Italia that belonged in Italian hands, not Spanish hands.

After the last artillery barrage of the day, as the sun began to fall, I sat around a fire in a front line camp alongside Pietro, Duke Filippo Maria II and Duke Carlo II, we listened to the distant sounds of internal strife within Imola - we could already tell that The Papal defenders were outnumbered by The Lord of Imola's forces, however, given that it's a mere Lord against the professional army of a major player on The Italian peninsula, I would have to assume that The Papal forces are much more heavily armed and better trained, but would those superior guns, pikes, and training really be enough to overcome their numerical disadvantage? Especially given that they are also up against an outside siege, and their food supplies must be very, very limited as I'm sure that The Lord's forces have already secured all the granaries and storehouses within the city, and effectively forced The Papal defenders onto the walls, meaning that their only food sources would be whatever, if anything, they had with them on the fortifications. Regardless, I felt that this siege would last longer than The Siege of Corsica, especially given that these defenders were likely Romagnan and Umbrian Papal loyalists who weren't just fighting for the distant realms of their country, they were fighting for their home, because they were well aware that Imola is much closer to Roma than the island of Corsica is to Toledo, and that meant that defending every inch was crucial to the war effort, this fortress would fall, but would it fall before The Papal States and Spain could bolster the fortresses in Forli and in Urbino in order to slow our advance any further? The next few months of this war would be crucial as we transition into the final months of 1565 and then into the new year - winters, even here in central Italia where the weather is not very severe at all, tend to be calm and peaceful as armies prepare for large offensives in the spring.

"French troops have been refused access by The Duke of Ferrara," Duke Filippo Maria II revealed after reading a letter that a messenger had revealed earlier today "They will negotiate with The Gonfaloniere of Firenze to travel through his lands in order to reach Romagna that way."

"Is King Rene with them?" I asked.

"Rene is off fighting his own war in Navarra, Dauphin Rene is leading this army." Filippo Maria replied, Dauphin Rene was King Rene III's son and crown prince, who, assuming he survives all of this, would one day rise to the throne as King Rene IV of France and, if his father has his way, also as King Rene II of Navarra. It seems like our French ally is indeed only in this war for his own self-interest, I would hope to be wrong, but so far, it is clear that he cares more about seizing Navarra from Spain rather than actually helping us out, despite the fact that this is Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza of Milan's war, not his.

"And if The French forces are not here once Imola falls?" I asked, worried that we could be pressing too far, too fast without French aid.

"I say we proceed regardless and allow The French to catch up." Filippo Maria responded, feeling bold - I could understand his perspective, he didn't want to give The Papal States and Spain a chance to regroup and bolster their defenses against us, he preferred to advance quickly and knock out the enemy with rapid shock tactics all before The Austrians and their alliance could enter the war - I just felt that it may be too risky to stretch ourselves too far, too fast, especially if Austria joins the war, as then they could prey on our separated groups of armies and shatter us while we are apart, however, I didn't exactly think that my view was particularly popular among the other leaders of our alliance, not even my own brother "What do the rest of you think?"

"We should press our advantage while we can." Duke Carlo II replied, quite expectedly, I mean after all, he was Duke Filippo Maria II's closest foreign supporter because he is essentially a vassal in all but name.

"I think we should wait for French aid," I replied, steadfast in my belief.

"Well Pietro, it falls to you - what do you say?" Filippo Maria asked and we all turned to my little brother, he took a few minutes to think - I could tell that he wanted to push forward, but he also didn't want to disagree with me so publicly, I didn't know if I was being cowardly or if I was being wise, but I did know that for now, we couldn't move anywhere regardless as the siege was still ongoing, but given how things were going for The Papal defenders, I did expect the fortress to fall before French troops could arrived here in Imola, and it didn't feel right to press forward without the reinforcements.

"Teresa...I think we can win this war quickly or we can be stuck fighting for years longer than necessary, I say we push forward."

"Well there we have it," Filippo Maria responded to Pietro before turning to me "This is the right choice Teresa, you'll see, we cannot be trapped in this quagmire of Romagna when Austria declares war, we need to knock The Papal States out of the war as soon as we possibly could."

And so, when Imola fell, Pietro and I took our armies to Forli to take the other Sforza Lordship.

* * *

The Siege of Imola had been easy enough and, at first, it seemed like The Siege of Forli would be just as easy, yet here we are now, facing artillery fire from Forli during a thunderous rainstorm as Papal cannons forced us away from the open fields and into the coastal marshes, which were muddy and flooded by the rain as it kept bucketing down as Pietro and I attempted to lead our troops to some higher, more solid ground, but it was difficult, the horses were struggling and the troops, dressed in their plate armor and holding the weight of pikes, shields, sabers, and guns, were often slipping over and struggling to get up in the mud and muck all around us - the horses were spooked not only be cannon fire but by the lightning and by the uneven and unsolid ground beneath them, the artillery was fairing even worse as we struggled to find places where we could place our cannons - rusted and muddy cannons were no good after all, meanwhile, the pristine cannons that The Papal defenders had on top of the walls of Forli.

"My Lady!" I looked over and saw Captain Ludovico from Torino on the ground by my horse, he was calling out for me "We have Papal infantry advancing down that hill towards us!"

"Men! We need to prepare for battle!" I yelled out as I saw pikemen advancing down a nearby hill - the very hill that we hoped to use as our besieging position - but when I turned to see my army, I saw tired and sickly men covered in mud and soaked with rain water, we were in no condition to fight. I don't know why this was different from Imola, I guess that for whatever reason, The Sforza Lord of Forli either couldn't rise up or perhaps he did but he was already defeated by the local Papal garrison, that meant that, unlike in Imola, we had to deal with an enemy fully focused on defeating us, and of course, this time the weather was not on our side with this damned pouring rain. I suppose that perhaps God is not on our side, given that here I am, a homosexual Duchess fighting against His Holiness The Pope in a war of Milanese aggression, I would be a fool to think that this was a holy cause, even if The Papacy hasn't always been the most holy organization of The Renaissance era, we are still fighting against the man who represents the voice of God on Earth. We were in no way challenging the religious authority of The Pope, this was a purely secular conflict, however, I do admit that, from a Catholic perspective, this is hardly a righteous thing to do to The Pope who should be preoccupied with addressing the large scale heresies in Germania.

"Cavalry!" I heard Pietro call out as he drew his saber "Charge!"

I watched helplessly as my brother and some brave cavalrymen charged up the hill towards The Papal infantry, in the corner of my eye, I saw a flash from the walls of Forli. My eyes opened wide as I realized what had happened.

"NO!" I yelled out as a cannonball struck the ground where Pietro had been, my horse reared up and knocked me to the ground, as I watched the smoke and pink mist rise from the spot where my brother had been. I got onto my feet somehow despite the mud and the weight of my armor, I looked around to see that my horses had gone and ran off, I saw that both The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Monferrato were broken, I looked up to see that The Papal infantry was still marching down the hill towards us, and in very impressive numbers, and between myself and their army, I saw no recognizable trace of my brother, just blood, shrapnel, and smoke...my brother has gone, practically without a trace.

"My lady!" Ludovico called out again "We need to retreat!"

I didn't respond, I stood their shocked too the core but what had just happened, the last member of my direct family has gone.

"We need to go!" he yelled again, grabbing me and shaking me out of my stunned position.

"Retreat!" I gave the order and we were forced to leave Forli and the coastline all together, we had to retreat all the way back to Imola and hunker down with allies in order to face the now inevitable Papal counterattack. The Siege of Forli was lost and, more importantly, my brother was lost too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was probably one of the more important chapters of writing Marchioness and I think the story as a whole improved from this point onward, but I'll let you be the judge of that.


	18. The Battle of Imola

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another depiction of death in this chapter, be warned.

Act IV.

The War for Romagna.

Chapter XVIII.

The Battle of Imola.

* * *

We had suffered a humiliating defeat.

I never should have let Pietro lead The Armata di Monferrato, I never should have allowed Duke Filippo Maria II to give the order to press forward rather than simply waiting for French reinforcements to bolster our ranks - this may be his war and he may be the one in charge of this offensive, but I am his equal in rank and I command my armies - and I never should have attempted to maintain a siege under those weather conditions. The entire Siege of Forli had been a massive disaster, and it's all my fault, now, here I am leading the remains of The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Monferrato to Imola, where hopefully we could stop any Papal counterattack, especially given that the fortress fell to us and our allies within it before too much damage was inflicted. We cannot fail in Imola, The Papal States and their Spanish allies are weaker than our alliance and we can win this war, but we need to be smart, and we cannot afford to take any more losses, not after all the soldiers we lost in the mud outside of Forli, not after the brave survivors struggled out of the mud and faced the elements as we marched all the way back to The Lordship of Imola, back where this all started in Romagna.

As we returned to Imola, not only did I have to deal with accepting my own personal failure at Forli, not only did I have to deal with the loss of the last member of my direct family, but I had to break the news of the loss to Pietro's wife, Francesca. I fear that I may be the one directly responsible for my own brother's death, as he and his men went on that cavalry charge because I had given the order to attack The Papal forces heading down the hill to confront us - I should have seen the bait coming, even with our disadvantage position, we still had that force outnumbered and outgunned, but we fell for their bait and the cannons of Forli didn't hesitate to show me just how much of a blunder I had made, just how much of a blunder Pietro had made, and, right then and there, my brother disappeared, practically without a trace, as a single ball of explosive fury ended a man who could have been, should have been a great artist and a renowned writer rather than a general who died in unfamiliar terrain to a blatant ploy by the enemy in what could very well prove to be a decisive battle of the war, as this meant that the coast of Romagna remained in Papal hands, which meant that Duke Filippo Maria II and Duke Carlo II were trapped down in Urbino with their respective armies, and, unless they could take Forli themselves or we would be able to respond and finally conquer the coastal fortress before The Spanish could arrive, then the enemy could isolate our armies and tear them apart separately, meaning that this war, a war which we had been so certain to win, may well turn into a crushing defeat.

The Habsburgs had played their cards well, they had allowed us and our allies to pass through Ferrara, but they had prevented The French from passing through, evidently, The Austrian alliance correctly predicted that we would push too far, too fast before we could get any help from our great power ally. The Austrians wanted to produce a stalement in Romagna as the forces of our alliance and The Spanish-Papal alliance reduced each other to nothing, which would allow Austrian, Hungarian, and Ferraranese armies to swoop in and capture the region for themselves, this was always the advantage of being the last one to enter a three way war, they would enter the war on their terms, and I promise you that The Austrians would know the moment to strike when they saw it, and right now, our alliance was the vulnerable one. The Duchy of Ferrara was supposed to be my father's lands, my grandfather was the last Duke of House d'Este, because The Habsburgs used the fact that my father had nearly opted to retire to a monastery as an excuse to seize the throne in favor of a dynastic benefactor via marriage, and this cheated my father out of his rightful land, and, indirectly, they had cheated me out of my rightful land, therefore, I wanted to reconquer The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena from The House von Habsburg, however, now was not the time to fight for it, because I was not ready to lose my men and my life over land that I wouldn't even be concerned with had it not been because of the circumstances of my birth.

We could only hope that The Papal States and Spain would hesitate to attack us and opt to bolster their forces instead and prepare for a spring offensive after the winter, because by then, the fortress of Imola will be fully ready for war, my armies will have recovered, a new general will have been selected to lead The Armata di Monferrato, and we would finally see French troops arrive and help us out, but right now, even in Imola, we may not be able to defend ourselves, our men are simply too exhausted and the fortress is not in optimal condition, I would rather wait for the spring when myself, Dauphin Rene of France, and The Lord of Imola will be able to mount a proper defense, followed swiftly by a counterattack which would hopefully culminate in us finally conquering Forli and making up for my tremendous failure and loss from the last attempt at a siege. I didn't know what was going to happen in the next few months, however, I had to hope that things were going to turn out well in the end, because I didn't want my brother's life to have ended in vain - I wasn't just fighting for my allies anymore, I wasn't just fighting because of a spontaneous feeling of wanting to conquer Sardinia, now I was fighting to avenge my brother, and I was prepared to drench Romagna in Papal and Spanish blood if that's what it takes to win this war.

The Lord of Imola, Lord Ludovico Sforza, opened the gates of the city and allowed my armies into his fortress, he offered us supplies and let us set up a large and well maintained war camp between the outer walls and the walls of the city proper, in return, I promised that my soldiers would help with repairing the damage we did to the fortress during The Siege of Imola and then helping to guard it, however, before all that, we all needed some rest and some time to think. I tore off my armor and collapsed onto the cot in my tent, I let the tears flow - I lost my brother because of my own blunders, now I had to explain to Francesca that her husband has been reduced to nothing by a single cannon ball, and after that, Ippolita and I would need to deal with the consequences of having had lost my one and only brother as well as my heir, which would mean that I would need to get married off to whoever would allow me to have a matrilineal marriage and, after that, I would need to go through the whole unpleasant process of producing a heir. This would have to occur after the war because, first of all, I wouldn't have the time to arrange a marriage, nor the money for a proper marriage ceremony while also financing a war, and, I also couldn't afford to have a pregnancy given that I was the one that was leading The Armata di Savoia - and, for the time being, I was also leading The Armata di Monferrato, however, I did intend to separate the armies once more whenever I managed to find a suitable general - but these were all things that I would need to deal with, yet more stress on a plate that's already more than full between the war, my massive personal failure in Forli, and the loss of my brother.

"Teresa!" I got up and saw that Ippolita was rushing towards me, having had arrived here in Imola, and behind her, I noticed Francesca following more slowly and appearing very sickly and wearing loose clothing, apparently she now required the assistance of several handmaidens - I had assumed that these handmaidens belonged to the wife of perhaps a daughter of The Lord of Imola.

"Ippolita!" I got all the way up and hugged her, holding her close and crying into her shoulder, Ippolita gently lowered me back down and joined me on the cot, just allowing me to cry and comforting me to the best of her abilities, this was something that I needed, especially now given what's happened in the last few weeks, and especially at Forli.

"What happened?" Ippolita eventually asked, gently, knowing that I may not be able to give an answer quite yet, but I tried to pull myself together so that I could reveal what's making me cry into her shoulder to begin with.

"Ippolita...Pietro's dead!" I revealed before telling her the details, often bursting into tears all over again, however, time and time again I had managed to pull myself back together, compose myself, and continue telling her what happened, but still, during all of this, I cried until the point where I just plain couldn't cry anymore, talking to my lover to whole way through, being comforted by her, and eventually, being calmed down by her, at least enough that I managed to find my voice once again, wipe away the tears, and prepare myself for eventually revealing the news to his wife, however, before I was going to do so, I wanted to hear from Ippolita as to what's going on with Francesca - is she sick? Is she dying? Was this what Pietro was stressed about? Perhaps Francesca has been suffering from some sort of disease and see revealed that to her husband at the war camp...maybe even earlier, I didn't know, this situation between my late brother and his wife had been on the periphery of my life lately, now, I had lost my brother, I had tried to give him what he wanted, I had tried to be his patron for his art, I had tried to allow him to marry who he loved, and I had tried to grant him the rank of general, but during all that, I had never bothered to truly mend the gap that had been wedged between myself and my brother, I had never got close enough to him in order to become his confidant, and therefore, he had never decided to reveal to me whatever was going on between him and his Athenian wife. I was now left to deal with that Athenian wife and whatever is plaguing her "What's going on with Francesca?"

"Oh no..." Ippolita realized that Pietro is dead and combined that with whatever it is that she knows which I do not "Teresa...she's pregnant with Pietro's child, it's been a very rough pregnancy - we spent some time in Imola before this and, when we talked to a doctor, the doctor said that he doesn't expect Francesca to survive the birth, in fact, she may not even survive the pregnancy to begin with."

"And the child? I asked.

"No idea, but if Francesca dies too early, then I doubt that the child would survive either." Ippolita responded, leaving the two of us pondering on a very somber note, seeing that we had a chance to avoid the process of producing a new heir, but also knowing that, this posthumous child of Pietro may not live to see this world because of the state of his or her mother and the unfortunate reality that, at this point, his or her life is exclusively in the hands of the mother, and if the mother dies, then the both of them die. In an ideal world, Francesca Acciaioli would recover from this rough pregnancy and give birth to a strong and healthy child, a child that would one day become my heir - a niece or nephew, even a posthumously born one, would make a perfectly legitimate claim - though admittedly, a nephew as a heir would be more appealing to those outside of The Duchy, however, regardless of whatever gender the child was, my last two predecessors, my Savoyard grandfather and my mother have both established that the law of inheritance would be cognatic primogeniture, which is why I became Duchess of Savoy rather than my younger brother Pietro, the vast majority of European nations are agnatic instead, hence, the nephew would be better received abroad. The next best scenario would be that Francesca dies in childbirth but the child survives - now, as a sister, I would love for my late brother's wife to survive a long life and to honor his memory, helping me establish his legacy as an artist and as a general, however, as a Duchess, the cruel reality is that a heir is worth much more to me rather than an already widowed and likely sickly courtier, now, I would still be happy if Francesca survived, even if the child did not, because she is family now, after all, and, of course, the worst possible scenario is that neither of them survive, however, my thoughts and prayers were with her, not just because of the fact that she's my brother's wife, not just because she is carrying my heir, but because she's a good young woman that deserves to live.

* * *

The Spanish and Papal armies had decided to hold off until the spring, and that gave us time to help reinforce the fortress with The Imola guards, this gave us time to wait for The French troops under the command of Dauphin Rene to arrive, it gave myself and Ippolita time to help Francesca through her increasingly difficult pregnancy, and, perhaps most crucially, it gave me time to relax and to think. Lord Ludovico Sforza ended up being a very helpful host, in that, despite his relatively lowly post, he is actually somewhat of a tactical genius, in that, in his younger years, when he was still loyal to The Papal States, he had been a Condottieri in the wars against The Republic of Firenze, Lucca, and Siena, which is a big part of the reason why he was rewarded with control over The Lordship of Imola after the last Lord died without a heir, and he has been teaching me all that he knew, by the end of November, I had reorganized The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Monferrato into two equally sized armies, diving up my artillery and my cavalry between them, and I bolstered their ranks with mercenaries from Toscana - the sons and brothers of the very mercenaries that Lord Ludovico had fought against, however, rather than hating him, they had come to respect him, and they knew that their true grudge was not against a mere Lord, but against The Papal States themselves - by December, I was drilling my two armies myself, marching them throughout the fields outside of Imola, training them against dummies, and even waging mock battles between the armies, and by January, I had decided that it was obvious who should lead The Armata di Monferrato, and, fortunately for myself, Lord Ludovico accepted, The Lord of Imola, my new ally and my new friend, would now be my new general, and hopefully, with the two of us at the helm, with the armies reorganized, and with brave men such as Colonel Grimaldi who had been the head of the troops of Torino, Captain Ludovico, who had been in charge of the guards of The Palazzo di Torino, and Maximilien Archambault, who had been in charge of the troops in Sciamberi and had served with me against the noble rebellion in Nizza, with all of this, we would be able to triumph in the war, despite all the setbacks, despite the loss of Pietro, and despite the humiliating defeat in Forli, we could still win, we would still win.

"My love," Ippolita came up to me shortly after one of the drills and presented me a letter "This is from Princess Isabelle of Jerusalem."

"Thank you love," I replied as I grabbed the letter and read it, Ippolita came over to my side and followed along - I knew that Isabelle would have likely expected me to keep this message private, but I know that Ippolita can keep a secret, I love her, and I've been with her for over eight years now, given that we had gotten together in the winter months of 1558 and it was now February of 1566, therefore, I let my lover remain at my side as we read the letter, together.

_My Dearest Teresa di Savoia,_

_I was heartbroken when I learned that Pietro had been killed in battle, you have my sincere condolences. I had never meant your brother, but whenever you had mentioned him or you wrote to me about him, you had always had something positive to say, therefore, I am certain that he must have been a great man and I am sure that the loss has been difficult on you - I wish I could be there to comfort you, but alas, The Mediterranean Sea still separates us, so the best I can do is this - if everything that you've written to me about Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato is true, then don't close yourself off to her, that kind of loss is not something that you can handle alone, I am sure that she is helping to help if you only let her._

"I know you're always here for me," I pulled Ippolita closer as we read that line, happy about the relationship that we had together.

"I will be, because I know that you're here for me," Ippolita responded, resting her head on my chest as we sat down on the cot of my tent and read the rest of the letter from Isabelle.

_However, I am not just writing you because of the loss of a life, I am writing because of the beginning of another - I know that you are preoccupied with the war, but I wanted to tell you anyway - my husband and I have ushered in a new life to this world, despite my feelings on the relationship, I am still proud of the result: I gave birth to a beautiful young girl, strong and healthy, when I saw her face, any worries over the closeness of kin between myself and my husband had dissipated, because in her face, I saw all the best features of The House de Valois and The House de Valois-Anjou, she is the perfect specimen and I can only imagine what the future has in store for her. There is more to it however, because the beauty of her young face and the perfectness radiating off of her meant that I instantly knew who I should name her after, so, when the time comes and your war is done, I would like to come to Italia and introduce you to Princess Therese Genève de Valois, named for everything that we shared together on the shores of Lake Geneva. I hope to see you that day, and I hope that you will be victorious._

_Good luck my dear friend,_

_Princess Isabelle of Jerusalem._

"She named her daughter after me." I said, not sure how to react to that.

"I'm sure many people will follow suit," Ippolita replied, the words that she said made a compliment, however, I heard disappointment in her voice.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to look her in the eyes but she wouldn't meet my gaze.

"Nothing," she lied, was she jealous? The things between myself and Isabelle happened years ago, before I even knew who Ippolita was - our whole romance happened in a mere few days together on Lake Geneva when we were merely fourteen years old, later this year, that will have been eleven years ago, this was entirely in the past, and, even if my dear friend and confidant in Jerusalem named her daughter after me, that didn't mean anything, it just was what it was, a name, which was derived from mine, with a middle name based on the place where the events we shared together took place, that was all it was, this is something that Isabelle had done all on her own, I had nothing to do with this - why is she being jealous then? I didn't know, but it was clear that Ippolita wasn't going to give me an answer any time soon.

* * *

The next few months passed by relatively peacefully as French reinforcements arrived and we finished rebuilding the fortifications around Imola, allowing us to start improving them instead of just fixing them. Francesca was surviving her pregnancy for the time being, however, she was not recovering by any means, nor was she growing much worse either, she was trapped in this strange limbo, not healthy enough that we could reliably expect her to survive giving birth, but not sick enough that we could reliably expect her to die before or during birth, she was, however, growing large, abnormally so, however, we weren't sure if that's because of her pregnancy or some sort of bloating due to her distance - the locals doctors were no help, being a little too eager to offer leaches as a remedy for everything between a migraine to The Plague. February turned to March and March turned into April, we wondered if The Papal counterattack would ever come, so Dauphin Rene, Lord Ludovico, and I all got together and began planning for a second attempt at besieging Forli - this one would surely be successful, we would be prepared this time, we had proper Generals this time, and we would have multiple layers of attack on our side this time. I wrote to Nizza in order to ensure that my ships would arrive in Forli to bombard it from The Gulf of Venezia, meanwhile, Lord Ludovico wrote to his cousin The Lord of Forli, finding out that his superiors had thwarted his last attempt at an uprising, but this time, his cousin had convinced him to rise up again, but only after our ships began firing upon the fortress, and then, once The Papal cannons were focused on The Gulf of Venezia, then The Second Siege of Forli would begin as we arrived to finally takeover. I was aware that this plan was potentially risking my navy, however, ships can move faster than armies and we may not lose any ships at all, especially if we got the timing just right and would cause disarray as The Papal forces wondered where they should position their cannons.

We had the preparations well under way when we finally received two crucial pieces of news - first of all, The Armata di Milano and The Armata di Mantua had been successful in Urbino, however, Papal forces had severed the supply lines and Duke Filippo Maria II had to move south into The Kingdom of Naples to meet with King Ferrante II and join their supply lines as they prepared for a joint offensive into the south of The Papal States in spring, meanwhile, Spain had sent reinforcements to Roma and to Forli, the ones in Roma were to bolster The Army of Pope Constantinus II along the border with Naples, meanwhile, the ones in Forli would reclaim Imola, pushing us out, before moving to recover Urbino and then attacking into Naples - The Spanish had effectively abandoned Sardinia and Corsica it seems, because King Rene III's war in Navarra has proved devastating and thus, Spanish forces are needed in Iberia and in Italia where their allies stood closer to defeat than either of them would like, especially given that Duke Charles IV of Provence would join us in Italia after he arrived back on the mainland from Sardinia and conquered Avignon, meanwhile, his brother, Henri III of Lorraine was moving up from The Free County of Burgundy into The Low Countries alongside French troops, our alliance was in full swing, and, after we repelled this Spanish and Papal spring offensive, we could use this momentum to finish off Forli and to invade The Papal States from the north, relieving the southern war that Naples and now Milan were fighting. Here in Imola we would stand up against the might of The Papal States and The Spanish Empire, we would repel them, and we would make up for each and every failure, we have The Spanish completely overextended and overstretched, we have The Papacy locked in war across three fronts now - Romagna, The Neapolitan border, and Avignon - and all that we have to do now is to seize the day. I smiled as I stood on top of the walls of Imola and looked out towards Forli, it would soon be a time for redemption, a time for battle, and, in the end, this would surely prove to be a time for victory.

"Teresa!" I turned sharply as I heard Ippolita calling out for me, something was urgent, and I was deeply worried.

"What?" I asked, panicked.

"Francesca is giving birth!" Ippolita yelled and together, the two of us rushed down to The Lord of Imola's manor, where Francesca had been brought for the final months of her pregnancy - my new General found it entirely unfitting that the daughter of The Duke of Athens and the sister-in-law of The Duchess of Savoy should have to give birth in a tent. Francesca had married my brother in the summer of 1565 and now, in April of 1566, we were about to witness the fruits of that marriage, the posthumous child of Pietro, the child who I would hope to make my heir, all of that depended on the sickly Francesca. Ippolita and I rushed across the town of Imola, holding up our dresses so that we could run, I should be there to witness this.

We rushed into the manor and we were escorted into the room where Francesca was giving birth, however, by the time we had arrived, we were already too late. I walked into the room and I saw that two handmaidens were struggling with trying to calm down not one, but two newborn babies, meanwhile, the rest were with a midwife gathered around Francesca, the sickly woman laid dead, having had struggled with carrying two children under the stress of a husband off at war, and later, killed in action, she shouldn't have been living in war camps for all of these months, we should have moved her into this manor immediately, but now, it was too late, she was dead, but she had given birth to two children in the process.

"Are the children okay?" I asked.

"They are fine," The midwife got to her feet "But they are now orphans, a girl came first, and a boy followed moments later, but Lady Francesca did not live long enough to even name them."

"No they are not orphans," I replied "I will raise them as my own."

"Are you sure?" she asked, seemingly forgetting that she was a mere midwife while I was a Duchess, though I didn't particular care about proper royal protocol, especially given that I admittedly didn't have any idea as to what I was doing.

"With the help of a few handmaidens and nurses, I will make due." I replied.

"Okay...okay, well...I suppose that you should name the children now," she said as her handmaidens handed the girl to me and the boy to Ippolita.

"Excuse us for a moment," I told them as I wanted to speak privately with Ippolita, the handmaidens and the midwife cleared out while I sat down with the girl in my arms, Ippolita sat next to me with the boy, all of us tried to ignore the fact that there was a corpse in the room.

"We've adopted two children," Ippolita exclaimed, somewhere between shock, curiosity, and happiness "Your niece and your nephew, for us to raise as our own...it will be almost like they were ours."

"They aren't just my niece and nephew, they're yours too, if we could be married, you know I'd marry you in a heartbeat." I replied, smiling and looking Ippolita in the eyes, I knew that a woman just died but I had a heir now, and Ippolita and I had two children to raise as our own, all without either of us ever having to had to deal with intercourse with men - two tragedies caused this and I will forever miss Pietro and Francesca, however, I cannot change the fact that the two of them are lost, but what I can do is look at the bright side which is that we can now be parents and the stress of a heir is now gone, my inheritance has been resolved twice over.

"I know my love," she smiled and we enjoyed a brief blissful silence "So...what are we going to name them?"

"I have an idea," I sighed, I knew that this would be difficult to convince Ippolita to accept.

"What?" she asked in reply.

"Well...I know that you're not going to be very happy about this, but Isabelle named her child Therese Genève de Valois, I think that I should return the favor and named her Isabella Ginevra di Savoia." I answered, somewhat pensively given that I knew that the reverse situation alone made her jealous and this would only add gunpowder to the flames.

"And the boy?" she sighed.

"Gianmaria Pietro di Savoia," I replied, I already knew that this was the fitting name, because The Duchy of Savoy and whatever Italian Kingdom I manage to form as a result of this war would go to Isabella, and Ferrara would go to Gianmaria, meaning that my father's namesake would finally get to rule the land that rightfully belonged to my father, as for the middle name, well, its own fitting that Pietro's child carries his name in one way or another, especially given that Ferrara is part of the region of Romagna and it would be fitting to see my brother who died in Romagna get his name continued on as a Duke in the region.

"Okay," Ippolita replied "I can't say that I like that you're naming your daughter after your last lover, but I know that you mean well and I know that you love me...I'll learn to accept it."

"If they were both girls, I promise you that the other girl would be named Ippolita."

"I know," she replied "I know."

* * *

"Spanish and Papal flags on the horizon!" a guard yelled as The Battle of Imola began, the babies were safely inside the manor with Ippolita, the midwife, and handmaidens, this allowed me, now dressed in my armor, to join Lord Ludovico and Dauphin Rene on the outermost walls as all the defensive artillery was engaged and our forces prepared for war just within the fortress, waiting for either a breakthrough or an order to attack. I joined my allies on the walls to see that the enemy forces were mainly Spanish - there were roughly twenty-thousand besieging soldiers, including cavalry and artillery, meanwhile, our forces were about thirty-five thousand strong between the remains of my armies, the mercenaries, the local guards loyal to Lord Ludovico, and the troops of Dauphin Rene, this, along with our defensive advantage, meant that the odds were on our side - it seems that our enemy was not informed that French reinforcements had finally arrived and they assumed that we would be weak and unprepared for battle - I was determined to prove that The Spanish and their Papal allies had made a massive blunder, therefore, my allies and I left the walls and we gathered up our armies at the bottom of the wall, we got onto our horses - my white horse which I had used since The Nizza rebellion ran off in Forli, so right now I was on the back of a black warhorse from here in Imola. I had lost a horse in Forli, I had lost a battle in Forli, and I had most my brother in Forli, but I did not rest on my laurels over the winter, and that meant that I was eager to go into battle once again, because I was confidant that I had learned, and I was confidant that the mistakes I had made in Forli, even the mistakes I had made in Sardinia - which would have been disastrous if I hadn't been saved by the timely arrive of Duke Charles IV de Valois-Anjou of Provence - would not happen again, I would not let it happen again, this was the time for me to prove myself as a great Duchess of Savoy, this was the time for The House di Savoia, this was the time for Italia. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me; I had lost to The Papal States before in Forli, but I was now eager for a rematch, and here we were. I looked over at Lord Ludovico, he met my gaze and gave me a nod, I did the same thing to Dauphin Rene and received another nod from The French Prince, we were in agreement then, we were ready, our armies were ready, and it was now time to strike.

Our armies advanced out of the fortress under the cover of artillery fire from the fortress of Imola, we would ready our artillery in a safe and stationary position once we were closer to the enemy - the tactics I used in Nizza and Sardinia may have had short term success up against completely inadequate forces such as the noble rebels, but against more professional forces such as The Sardinian loyalists, these tactics were far too risky and would result in tremendous losses of artillery, especially when we were now up against Spanish and Papal forces in very significant numbers. Those numbers, however, were not enough, and it was clear from the reactions of the enemy that they were not expecting to see the banner of a French Crown Prince on this battlefield, therefore, our superior numbers and the strategic abilities of our commanders allowed us to overwhelm the enemy. I lead The Armata di Savoia into the heart of the enemy forces, meanwhile, The Armata di Monferrato pushed up against the left flank under the orders of Lord Ludovico of Imola, and Dauphin Rene and his army took the right flank - the enemy forces were not yet in full retreat, but we had managed to push them farther and farther back as they were pelted with not only our mobile cannons, but by the heavier emplaced guns of Imola. We pushed up against the enemy until their left flank collapsed and Lord Ludovico was able to advance against the center of the enemy, now doubling the amount of troops up against one part of the enemy forces - the survivors of the left flank tried to bolster the center, but this just caused disorganization and allowed us overwhelm the center as well, soon enough, I saw the enemy General - a Spanish noble acting as their supreme commander - ordered a full retreat, I smiled to myself, I was able to win a battle, I proved to myself that my failure at Forli would not break me, because a humiliated Spanish and Papal army had to deal with the fact that they had been wrong, that French troops had arrived and they had failed to hear about it, and our enemy now had to deal with the fact that The Duchy of Savoy was not an irrelevant player in this war, I may not be the perfect leader, but with people like Lord Ludovico guiding me, I could learn and I could become a much better leader. The Neapolitan and Milanese forces were launching a full scale invasion into The Papal States from the south, King Rene III of France is raising hell across northern Spain in his campaign for Navarra, and now, The Spanish and The Papal States had been repelled in The Battle of Imola, the momentum was with us now, for certain, we knew what we were up against and we knew that we could beat the enemy, but what nobody was certain about was The Habsburgs, we knew that The Austrians and their Hungarian subjects were going to join the war, but we didn't know when this would happen.

"We won," I replied, as my allies rode up to my side on their horses.

"We should press on towards Forli, before they can recover," Lord Ludovico replied, doing his kinder version of telling me to stay focused on the task at hand rather than letting a few battles go to my head and make me arrogant.

"Not quite yet," Dauphin Rene replied, revealing that he was holding a blood covered document that he had evidently recovered from a fallen Spanish officer "A copy of a letter to The Spanish crown, produced by the printing presses of Toledo, this has seemingly been sent out to officers throughout The Spanish Empire to report news that The Austrians have declared war on The Papal States and Spain." The Habsburgs were now at war against our enemy, evidently having noticed that The Milanese and Neapolitan invasion from the south and the war in Iberia would mean that Romagna, which The Habsburgs in Ferrara claimed, would be ripe for conquest - even with Spanish reinforcements, we were only fighting twenty thousand men, this meant that, due to overlapping claims, we were effectively at war with The Habsburgs as well, so, upon hearing this news, I turned to Dauphin Rene and replied.

"And so it begins."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do admit Francesca's death seems rather rushed, but then again, childbirth back then was an incredible risk, and carrying twins into a war zone and giving birth in a city preparing for a siege seem like particularly difficult and stressful conditions. I'm willing to give my younger self a pass on this one.
> 
> Anyway, the war intensifies.


	19. The Second Romagna Campaign.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There have been a lot of time skips recently, mainly to realistically reflect the fact that wars used to take a really long time. Therefore, just to clarify, this chapter begins in April 1566 and picks up right after the end of the last chapter. Also, warning, this chapter features a depiction of torture.

Act IV.

The War for Romagna.

Chapter XIX.

The Second Romagna Campaign.

* * *

Imola may prove to be the turning point in this war, The Spanish and Papal counterattack had been a disaster, they failed to push us out of Romagna and now we were ready to wage war for Forli once more, reinforced with the troops of the young Dauphin Rene of France while his father waged war all across northern Spain in order to push his claims for The Kingdom of Navarra, while Duke Henri III of Lorraine advanced from the occupied Spanish territory within the former Free County of Burgundy into The Spanish Netherlands to support The Bishop of Utrecht's upcoming revolt against The Spaniards who were attempting to rule over the entirety of The Low Countries, while his brother Duke Charles IV of Provence returned to the mainland from Sardinia in order to capture The Papal exclave of Avignon, just north of his core territories on The French Riviera, while Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan and King Ferrante II of Naples mounted a massive invasion of The Papal States from the south, intent on sacking Roma and ending the war then and there. The Milanese and The Neapolitans would be able to conquer The Papal States with the numbers they had, therefore, once we were able to besiege Forli, we would turn our attention to Habsburg Ferrara, and beyond that, to Austria itself, because The Habsburgs were a much greater threat to us than The Spanish, we had The Spanish on the run and our forces would reach both Roma and Toledo by the summer of 1567, however, The Austrians and The Hungarians are able to raise a full strength army, hardened by war against The Ottoman Empire but fresh enough that they are not exhausted from war, therefore, we need to conquer Ferrara and push into Austria before their armies could be fully consolidated and mobilized, otherwise, Hungarian Hussars would overwhelm us, Austrian cannons would tear us apart, and, rather than being on the offensive in western Austria, we would be forced to defend Lombardia from The Habsburg forces or else they could reach Milano itself and bring our alliance to its knees.

Lord Ludovico Sforza of Imola would be my general for the remainder of the war, despite the fact that, after the war, he would most likely become a subject of his relative Filippo Maria II, but right now, he was with me, and, so far, in our brief time together, this alliance has proven quite fruitful, with that crucial victory in Imola being much more decisive than either of my military victories in Nizza or in Sassari, and definitely was a much needed boost of confidence after my intense failure during my first attempt to siege down Forli. Dauphin Rene had decided to stay alongside us rather than leading his troops into The Papal States, I considered this ideal because I felt that there was no reason why we should disrupt something that has been proven to work. Therefore, all three of us were marching our armies across Romagna as we prepared to right the wrongs and conquer Forli once and for all.

At this point I was certain that all the major powers in Europe were entirely focused on this war, The English were certainly happy to watch their enemies tear each other apart and England would almost certainly attempt to seize the colonies of either France or Spain, depending on how the war goes, though at this point I cannot see Spain being able to rebound from their failures in Sardinia, in Romagna, in Burgundy, in The Low Countries, and even in Iberia itself as they go up against Rene III, hopefully, we'll be able to gain the edge against Austria as well, that way, if we can win this, France will be the strongest power on continental Europe, having pushed their enemies out of the rich provinces of Italia and soundly defeated them in battle, Rene III's ambition would demand that he seize not only Navarra, but The Free County Burgundy, as well as concessions within The Holy Roman Empire - Rene III wants many things, one of which is a country that stretches from The Atlantic tip of Brittany to The Rhine Valley, from Navarra to The Netherlands, and a vast expanse of colonies all around the world, he envisioned himself as a new Charlemagne, however, we in Italia did not consider ourselves as just another title for him to claim, unlike The Lombards of Charlemagne's time. All members of our alliance were ambitious, even minor players such as Duke Carlo II of Mantua who wanted to prove to Milano that he and The House Gonzaga were more useful as allies rather than as future vassals awaiting annexation, while both Charles IV of Provence and his Lothringian brother Henri III would like for their elder brother in Jerusalem to name them his heir given that Isabelle's child is a girl - for the record, that isn't out of any sort of hatred of woman, that's simply because men have always been favored in inheritance and the two brothers were hungry for power given that their cousin, The King of France barely even bothered to acknowledge their independence, seeing The Duchies of Provence and Lorraine as his lands, Rene III was power-hungry and he clearly didn't care for The Holy Roman Empire, in fact, sooner rather than later, I could see The Kings of France trying to proclaim themselves as an Emperor, though fortunately, it doesn't seem like The Pope would support that claim any time soon, though he's also at war with The Habsburgs so he may not wish to crown The Austrian heir as Holy Roman Emperor either, and The King of Poland and The Grand Duke of Lithuania is probably the most likely candidate to become an Emperor after the candidate chosen by The Electors of The Holy Roman Empire, given that The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is by far the largest Catholic nation in Europe, though not necessarily the most stable given that the population consists of everyone from Prussians to Estonians to Russians to Crimean Goths and minority religions include Orthodox Christians, Muslims in Crimea, and even a high population of Jews. Military technology is reaching a very critical point as artillery becomes so common place that everyone from the strongest nations in Europe to the most minor of Principalities within The Holy Roman Empire is now fielding cannons, guns get so advanced every modern army needs as many soldiers armed as possible in order to get the ideal ratio of pike and shot - once guns get less expensive and less delicate, then I could very well see the pike becoming obsolete as the nature of combat evolves to increasingly favor firearms, and ship building was getting so advanced that massive vessels could cross The Atlantic while loaded with carrying multiple decks of cannons as well as cargo, warfare was evolving, and the wars of the coming decades will be absolutely devastating - already it was clear that Romagna was scarred by marching armies, artillery fire, and trampling horses, and if that was happening now, I could only imagine what war would look like in a century or two, and, given my allies and my intentions to expand my realm, I have a feeling that either myself or my immediate successors would be involved in these conflicts of the not too distant future.

Speaking of immediate successors, while I left to besiege Forli and then continue into Ferrara, and beyond that, to invade Austria itself, Ippolita made arrangements to have Isabella and Gianmaria baptized by Marco Bianchi, The Patriarch of Torino - now, ideally I would get my adopted children - who are my niece and nephew respectfully - baptized by The Pope, however, given that we are at war, I don't think that Pope Constantinus II would be particularly pleased with a baptismal request, he may find it just a bit flippant. These were Pietro's children and I ended to raise them as my own, however, right now, I was preoccupied with the war so, regretfully, I have to leave Ippolita in charge of the two of them, but once we finally had peace, whether that happens in a few months or in half of a decade, when I finally have a chance, I do intend to take a more significant role in the lives of the young twins. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to deal with the question of inheritance, I believe that at this point, too many lives were lost and too much territory was gained for anyone to accept a status quo ante bellum, however, if that were to happen, then I suppose that the most fitting situation would be to name Isabella as the heiress to The Duchy of Savoy while granting The Duchy of Monferrato to Gianmaria, because, while Isabella was born first, the two of them were the exact same age and those outside of The Duchy, as well as certain rebellious elements within my borders, would object to the continuation of female succession when a male candidate was still there - especially given that the posthumous nature of their birth and the loss of their mother in the process would not make the cousins and other relatives who opposed my mother's succession to the throne all those years ago particularly pleased about being overlooked yet again and they would no doubt suggest that these children were not even Pietro's, creating all sorts of slander, which had nothing to do with any personal feelings to myself or to my newfound children, rather, it was all about power, it was always about power, even legitimate grievances between nobles and rulers would ultimately amount to feuds over land and power.

Feudalism was an interesting and cutthroat method of government, after all, here we were, a Duchess, a French Crown Prince, and a local Lord were leading three armies to Forli as we heard the distant sound of cannons - my ships had arrived in The Adriatic Sea and they were now firing upon the fortress of Forli on The Romagna coast, this punctual arrival meant that The Papal cannons would no doubt be moving to be aimed at my ships and would thus be caught off of their guard as we reached the borders of The Lordship of Forli - the plan was working thus far as I allowed Lord Ludovico to take the lead in order to position our forces in an ideal position above the various muddy lagoons and streams surrounding the fortress - I have to give credit where credit's due, Forli really is occupying the ideal real estate of the area, sitting on a relatively flat and dry plane surrounded by land that's about as well suited to artillery and cavalry as a blind man is to penmanship, but Ludovico managed to position our armies perfectly and we began firing upon the fortress of Forli as The Papal defenders desperately tried to position their cannons in an opportune location that simply did not exist, as there was no bastion that could have a cannon placed in such a way that they could hit our position and the position of my ships at sea - the other bastions would be in the way. We may have a safe position for both ourselves and the warships, but this would be a long siege nonetheless, because, unlike the other times I've laid siege to enemy fortresses, this time the defenders of Forli are emboldened by the fact thay they know that they've defeated me before and they know that they've even managed to slay my brother and General, Pietro. Therefore, we dug in, uncertain if this would be for a few weeks or for multiple months, uncertain if The Lord of Forli truly would manage an internal uprising after all, uncertain if we could even take Forli to begin with, my confidence still shattered from the last time that I was here.

* * *

The Siege of Forli lasted through the whole year, star fortresses were incredibly hard to besiege and, while we did have a really easy time in Corsica, that's because The Spanish defenders in Corsica didn't care to defend what they see as a very distant island and in Imola, The Papal defenders were up against a large scale uprising from the levies of Lord Ludovico, and he is a very competent General, which is why I trusted him as the commander of The Armata di Monferrato, meanwhile, here in Forli itself, we were up against an enemy that had already been defeated outside of Imola and was determined to strike back and push us back in order to avenge their fallen comrades and keep their country from suffering a critical defeat. The war was over Romagna, The Lordships of Forli and Imola in particular, and controlling Romagna, including those two Lordships, would mean that we controlled the war goal, which is a big part of the reason why, after this, the army group under my command was going to swing north into The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena, and after that, we would pass through Venetian territory into Trentino, fighting The Austrians on their own soil. This war could take me very far, having had lead my armies everywhere from Cagliari to the east coast of Italia, and in the near future, I may have to lead my armies all the way to Vienna, however, it would all be worth it, because I had ambitious plans for The Duchy of Savoy, I wanted to annex Sardinia and to regain Ferrara, meanwhile, I would try to exchange Modena for Novara with Milano, which would make The Duchy of Milan a stronger but more eastwardly power, however, I'd imagine that Milano would accept this, Modena was a much more worthwhile city, however, that worth meant nothing to me because I would struggle to govern it, however, Modena was just between The Milanese city of Parma and the current warzone of Romagna, Ferrara was more distant but it was my grandfather's primary title and it's at very last connected to The Adriatic Sea and therefore, I could govern it more easily - in fact, Ferrara was on the delta of The Po River, which is the very same river that flows through Torino. This territory would mean that I would have fully control of the region of Piemonte as well as Sardinia, therefore, I could codify The Italian nature of my realm, perhaps the name of my future Kingdom would omit The French title of Savoy entirely.

I was very ambitious, I do admit, though so were all of the members of my alliance, including Milano, who started this war because of their desire to reach The Adriatic Sea, which has traditionally been the domain of Venezia, with The Milanese and The Venetians having traditionally been enemies - I'd imagine that rivalry would continue, especially given that Milano desired recovering the culturally Venetian region of Trentino from Austria, incorporating it into their own realm, as my Milanese neighbors desired their own Kingdom as well. This was a very critical time throughout western Europe, but in The Alpine region especially as Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza and I attempted to forge two massive Kingdoms in northern Italia, one would be ruled by The House di Savoia from Torino while the other would be ruled by The Sforza from Milano, we knew that we weren't as powerful as the colonial superpowers of France, Spain, England, and Portugal, however, we could hope that our power would eventually be able to rival the likes of Scotland, Denmark, or some of the larger realms within The Holy Roman Empire such as Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saxony, and The Kingdom of Bohemia. The Scots were forced to contend with English ambitions for the entirety of The British Isles, meanwhile, The Danes have lost control of The Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden, their only consolation was inheriting The Electoral Palatinate of The Rhine within The Holy Roman Empire, which meant that The House von Wittelsbach lost their position as Electors and were reduced to just Bavaria, meanwhile, Brandenburg was strong but it was cut off from The Baltic Sea by Pomerania, south of Brandenburg was Saxony, which was larger, however, they also had no access to the sea and they had to deal with the strongest protestant uprisings in Europe, as for Bohemia, the only Kingdom within The Holy Roman Empire was in a precarious position, sandwiched between Austria along with their subject Hungary and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which has annexed Bohemia's former vassal in Silesia, all of these realms were far from perfect, but they were essentially the best of the rest of powers in western Europe, lying behind the great powers but stronger than anyone else, Savoy and Milano belonged in that group, and I was intent on joining that prestigious circle of regional powers.

"When will The Lord of Forli's uprising begin?" I asked Lord Ludovico, hoping that he would know something about what's going on with his local relative.

"I don't know, I doubt any news will be leaving the fortress any time soon, he may have let us down again" Ludovico admitted, apparently he was just as uncertain over his fellow Sforza Lord as I was "But I am confidant that he will rise up, but perhaps not until the outcome is already decided - it seems that bravery is not as equally distributed among The House of Sforza as I had hoped."

"I'm sure Duke Filippo Maria II wants to lead your dynasty into greatness." I said as the cannons once again fired upon the fortress of Forli "He will always have my support, and so will you, because I'm grateful for all your help and I intend to return the favor, you're the General that I needed after my failure last time I was here in Forli."

"How exactly did your brother die?" Ludovico asked, evidently he hasn't found out quite yet.

"We had to move through the lagoons because the artillery was fully focused upon us, therefore, when Papal infantry arrived to relieve the siege, I should have ordered a retreat, instead, I ordered an attack, my forces fell into disarray, and during that, my brother Pietro decided to try and launch a cavalry charge up against The Papal forces, so he ran up hill on horseback where a Papal cannon picked him off, killing him on the spot." I revealed before revealing quite how desperate the situation had gotten as a consequence of my failure in The Battle of Forli, but now, we were in Forli again and I was not going to fail again "At the point, we had no choice but to retreat, returning to Imola with our morale dashed and everything was up in the air - we didn't know who was going to lead The Armata di Monferrato, we didn't know if we could still win this war, we didn't know when The Papal forces would mount a counterattack, we didn't even know what the inheritance situation was going to be, as Pietro is my heir and with him gone...I was deeply worried, fortunately, Francesca was carrying the twins, unfortunately, she's not around to raise them anymore, therefore, I've adopted the twins."

"We have all experienced loss in war." Ludovico sighed "I had a son once, little Giovanni, he was a brave soldier and a good Catholic, always prepared to fight for The Papacy, no matter the cost, then, in a skirmish with Siena, a pointless dispute over a few farm fields along the border, my son was fighting as a pikeman, my forces were attached to those of his superior, I was busy leading my troops on the left flank when I turned to see that my son's position had been compromised, I saw him knocked to the ground and crippled, I saw him desperately searching for help as the retreat was order - I tried to go to him, I tried to help him, but the general in charge stopped me, forcing me to retreat as my one and only son was killed by Siena's troops. I wanted to avenge him, so as soon as I could I lead counterattacks into Siena, I fought like a lion against The Tuscan Republic, I did everything I could to avenge my son, but none of it meant anything, none of it brought him back. The Papacy rewarded my efforts with a Lordship, but Imola does not change the fact that The Papal States tore me away from my son as he was slaughtered on the battlefield, not even all of Italia could change that."

"I'm sorry for your loss." I replied after a short pause, uncertain of what else I could say.

"Don't be, you had nothing to do with it." Lord Ludovico replied "Besides, you've experienced more loss than I have, your father, your mother, Pietro, and now Francesca...be strong girl, do not mind the pained memories of an old man."

"We've all lost too much, we can't let it all be for vain," I promised "we need to win this war."

"We will," Ludovico sweared as the next volley of cannon fire was launched at Forli.

* * *

Forli finally fell in December of 1566, the fortress had finally been starved too long and battered too heavily to continue, at which point The Lord of Forli began his uprising, which brought The Papal defenders to their knees and have us control over Romagna at last, we had pushed The Papal forces out of Forli and taken the coast, our role in the war against The Papal States and Spain was over, because in the spring of 1567 we would leave Forli, travelling through Romagna and besieging Modena, we would capture the inland city first before returning to Ferrara to secure the coast, and beyond Ferrara, we would invade Austria itself. I had to imagine that the war would have been decided by the time an invasion of Austria had either succeeded or failed miserably, but if necessary, I would fight The Habsburg from The Alps to The Carpathians, from Tyrol to Transylvania. My alliance had been able to defeat the mighty Spanish Empire - the seemingly invincible state that had dominated Iberia, that had come to rule over The Low Countries with an iron first, that had discovered the riches of The New World, and their most Holy of allies, The Papal States, the country that has been able to so heavily dominate central Italia, if we could defeat them, then The Austrians meant nothing, we would tear them apart, I would reclaim Ferrara, and I would drive The Habsburgs and any other Germans out of Italia even if it meant burning Vienna to the ground, it was time to establish strong and independent Italian states, it is time to lay the groundwork for what could one day become a unified state in Italia - for now, that was unthinkable, sure Savoy and Milano were growing stronger, sure The Neapolitan crown ruled everything south of Roma, but Italia was still a patchwork of small Duchies and Republics, maybe one day we could form a state were Sicilians, Tuscans, and Venetians answered to the very same ruler, but not right now, that was not our goal and that was a little too ambitious even for our mighty alliance - it's not like The Savoyard, Milanese, and Neapolitan rulers would all agree on who should lead this theoretical Italian Kingdom, it simply isn't feasible right now, but what we can do, is push foreign powers out of Italia and build states strong enough to resist any further incursions for long enough for our descendants to figure out how we could possibly unite Italia.

My army marched into Forli and celebrated that we finally won The Siege of Forli, we had finally redeemed ourselves from our loss all those months ago, but I didn't celebrate with them, I walked out of the fortress alone, not minding the rubble left behind by our siege nor minding the relatively cold conditions given that it's now December - it won't generally won't snow here in Romagna, Italia tends to stay warmer than that, other than the northern reaches of Italia where The Alps dominate the weather, however, it does still get cold. I left the fortress and walked over to the hill that Pietro was trying to charge up on with his cavalry when a Papal cannon blew him up, killing him instantly. I had to retreat when the first siege failed and during the second siege it wasn't exactly safe to come here, but now, Forli was captured and my soldiers were celebrating, the warships that shelled Forli from The Adriatic Sea were returning to Nizza, and The Lord of Forli was being integrated into our alliance, despite the fact that he had proven himself a cowardly opportunist rather than a brave and competent general like his cousin Ludovico. None of that mattered however, because I was avoiding all of that, instead, I was here at the spot where Pietro died - I could still see the divot in the ground from where the cannonball had made impact - the body and the horse were nowhere to be found, having had been disposed of by The Papal defenders given that it's been more than a year since the defeat outside of Forli at the end of 1565. I didn't know where his body could be or if The Papal States had even gone through the trouble of giving him a proper burial, I didn't know, but I knew that, either way, when I returned to Sciamberi, I would have a ceremonial grave made for him. I stood over the spot where he died all alone and, in silence, I paid my respects.

* * *

We didn't stay in Forli long, we couldn't afford the luxury of missing another winter while Austria and Hungary prepared for full scale warfare - I wanted to deal with Ferrara and Modena now before properly pushing into Austria - I didn't want for the war against The Habsburgs to take place on Italian soil, I would rather be fighting on their soil, that alone would give us an advantage because we would determine the time table of the war - we would not give The Austrians a chance to fight on their terms, we would not give let them fully mobilize their armies, and we would not allow their soldiers to step foot on Italian soil. We marched through Romagna, stopping in Imola only for a few hours when I visited Ippolita and the twins, giving the soldiers the change to rest in the mean time - I realize that we've marched back and forth Romagna quite a few times since the fall of 1565 , but that was the unfortunate reality of war, however, I did want to let my troops rest whenever they could, a tired and demoralized army was no good, however, time was of the essence, so soon enough, we were on the move again, we were going to capture Modena and then into Ferrara before marching north into Austria - now, we could have just moved directly from Forli to Ferrara, however, that would have left Modena in Habsburg hands and it would remain a threat, I wanted to fully secure Italia before I moved north.

I had a very ambitious goal of conquering both Ferrara and Modena before the summer of 1567, which was unlikely given that The Siege of Forli took us from May to December of 1566, but I would try my absolute hardest to accomplish this, though I had to assume that there would be star fortresses in Ferrara and Modena at very least, as well as other minor fortifications scattered around - Ferrara was a strong Duchy and it needed to be strong and well defended in order to stay independent, not that it helped them stay safe from The House von Habsburg after all. The Siege of Modena began on New Years Day, 1567 and our cannons began wearing the fortress down, I could tell that The Ferraranese defenders weren't exactly prepared a siege just yet, and I was even sure if they wanted to fight us, Ferdinand von Habsburg, currently posing as Duke Ferdinando I of Ferrara and Modena, was born and raised in Austria as his claims to The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena were questionable, but he has come to rule both, much to the chagrin of many Italians who were loyal to The House d'Este and did not want to be ruled by foreigners, given that my father was the last heir to Ferrara and I carried The House d'Este bloodline, I was the one who should rule over Ferrara, and I was intent on correcting this massive error. I watched with glee as my cannons fired upon the walls of Modena until March 1567 when the city finally surrendered, the defenders had seen the futility of their defense and didn't want to die fighting for an illegitimate German Duke, in fact, we had picked up two hundred volunteers in Modena, bolstering our forces as we continued northeast towards Ferrara.

As we moved north from Modena to Ferrara we encountered a Ferraranese army under the command of Duke Ferdinando I, mainly consisting of mercenaries but it was bolstered by some rushed Austrian infantry and Hussar style cavalry, as well as some artillery, they were as strong as us, but I think that they knew that, I think Duke Ferdinando was trying to delay us as much as possible, Lord Ludovico and Dauphin Rene made similar predictions, therefore, we opted to be extra brutal and extra decisive in this battle, we fired off our artillery in rapid succession and, before the smoke had even cleared, our cavalry trampled over the enemy armies, and, marching through the smoke behind them was our infantry, arranged in perfect formations and expertly drilled thanks to Ludovico's help, additionally, their timing was so much better, we had almost doubled the amount of shots we could get off per minute in the shot portion of our pike-and-shot training, now, training is one thing and those times couldn't be replicated in the heat of battle, but our troops were still moving at a faster speed and attacking more decisively, with more discipline, than our enemies, in fact, it became immediately obvious who our trained troops were and who the mercenaries and Modenese volunteers were because the latter group was struggling to keep up, but it didn't matter, because we foiled Duke Ferdinando I's plan and forced him to retreat back to Ferrara with incredibly haste. This critical battle was fought in an open field near the village of Maranello just north of Modena, therefore, it would henceforth be known as The Battle of Maranello, where The Savoyard armies triumphed over The Ferraranese.

We would not give Duke Ferdinando I a chance to recover, because we followed his retreating army to Ferrara, firing on them with artillery periodically, never letting them rest or forget exactly who was pursuing, this continued all the way until we reached the fortified city that gives The Duchy its name, The Ferraranese troops under Ferdinando managed to get inside, but that wouldn't help them much, because Lord Ludovico was willing to win this war even if it meant we had to fight dirty, because he ordered the artillery assigned to The Armata di Monferrato to fire into the fortress through the gates of the fortress as Duke Ferdinando and his troops filed into the fortress, the cannon fire hit barracks and set fire to them, The Siege of Ferrara had begun. The fortress of Ferrara was on fire, but the actual city was not, my war was against those loyal to Ferdinand von Habsburg, not against the people I intended to rule. The Ferraranese managed to get the fire under control soon enough, but the siege continued for day after day, week after week, and soon enough March bled into April and April bled into May. I assumed that Ferdinando's army engaged mine in Maranello to buy time for their allies to arrive, but no allies arrived, I wasn't sure if that's because The Austrians had lied to Ferdinando about sending aid in order to get him to distract us in order to buy themselves time, rather than buying time for Ferrara. In May, as the siege continued, our siege camp was visited by a man in black, white, and red robes.

"Duchess Teresa I di Savoia," he greeted, bowing before me briefly before rising "I request and audience."

"Granted," I replied, sitting in my armor in a makeshift throne, the closest we could manage to a proper court while besieging a major fortress.

"My name is Sebastiano Francesco Africano de Laurentis," he introduced himself "I represent The Italian interests of The Most Venerable Order of The Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem."

"The Knights Hospitallier." I exclaimed, this was a member of the last remaining Order of The Crusaders, The Knights Hospitalliers who still fight against heathens from their fortresses in Rhodes and in Sugla, where they serve as a permanent thorn in the side of The Ottoman Empire, as for their fellow orders, The Knights Templar were famously brought down by The French and The Papacy in The Middle Ages in response to their massive banking Empire which owned considerable amounts of French debts, as well as accusations of The Order having had adopted pagan rituals, though the validity of those accusations has long been questioned. The Knights Teutonic were still in operation a century ago, but then The Polish conquered both The Prussian and The Livonian branches of The Teutonic Order, nearly doubling the size of their realm in the process and beginning a century of Polish dominance in eastern Europe as The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would form not long after, and their wars against The Muscovites soon followed, thus far, The Poles and The Lithuanians have been able to keep The Muscovites at bay, but now that The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is sending missionaries and funds to The Grand Republic of Novgorod, this diplomatic invasion of Russia may be too much for The Muscovites to tolerate. In any case, Sebastiano was here and likely for important reasons.

"Yes," he replied "I was a friend of your father before The Habsburgs cheated him out of his inheritance and effectively forced him into exile in Savoy, it never felt right for my friend's lands to be in foreign hands, therefore, I am here to announce that I've arranged that all of Ferrara's lines of credit with The Hospitalliers have dissipated, and I am here to collect on all their debts - I am here to cripple Ferrara's economy and, while I'm at it, to do my part in transferring The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena to their true heiress."

And so, he did, Laurentis bankrupted The Ferraranese branch of The House of Habsburg and Duke Ferdinando I immediately surrendered, he knew that becoming my prisoner was safer than being left with his garrison of mercenaries who could no longer be paid. I watched from my makeshift throne as a group of pikemen under the command of Captain Ludovico - who was up for promotion as a Colonel of The Armata di Savoia once all of this was over - from Torino escorted my prisoner back to the siege camp, the cannons finally silent because of our victory. Duke Ferdinando I von Habsburg was thrown to my feet as Lord Ludovico of Imola stood to my left and Dauphin Rene of France stood to my right.

"Pay close attention Rene, this is what happens to foreigners in Italia." I warned, knowing that tensions between Italia and France were bound to occur as long as The House de Valois maintained their Angevine claims to Naples - The French House d'Anjou, a cadet branch of The House of Capet, just like The Valois, had ruled over The Kingdom of Naples before The Aragonese did, when The House d'Anjou went extinct, these claims fell to The House de Valois, as well as The House de Valois-Anjou, The Valois cadet branch that rules over Jerusalem, Provence, and Lorraine which hails from Anjou, a French county just east of Brittany that their extinct cousins also hailed from. I was well aware that French ambitions were for more than just Naples, The French desired all of Italia, Savoy in particular, because, as King Rene III had claimed, Sciamberi and Nizza had French majorities, even if I did my best to rename them and assert The Duchy of Savoy as Italian, that didn't mean that The French people of those regions would follow my lead, but that didn't mean that they wanted to be part of France either, though my chances of getting The House de Valois to see that were slim, but perhaps my treatment of Ferdinand von Habsburg would leave a permanent impression upon Dauphin Rene, The Crown Prince of France.

"On your feet prisoner!" Lord Ludovico ordered and Ferdinand got to his feet, visibly outraged.

"I will not be bossed around by a mere Lord!" he yelled out defiantly, despite the fact that he did indeed stand up when Lord Ludovico commanded him to do so, therefore, in response I gave him a hard backhanded slap, immediately afterwards, by soldiers knocked him to his knees and forced the wooden rear end of their pikes into the back of his knees.

"Fine, kneel then!" Lord Ludovico responded, circling him as I stood in front of the imprisoned German.

"Abdicate the throne." I ordered.

"Abdicate?" he asked incredulously, in response, my soldiers flipped their pikes around and stabbed Ferdinand through the back of his knees, crippling him and bringing him intense pain, I heard him scream as the soldiers slowly pulled their pikes out of the bloody remains of his knees, the soldiers then pulled his head back and forced him to look me in the eyes.

"Did I stutter?" I asked coldly.

"I abdicate!" he screamed, succumbing to the torture.

"Abandon all claims in Italia!"

"I abandon all claims!" he renounced The Habsburg claims to Ferrara, kneeled down in pain outside of the ruins of his fortress. I kneeled down opposite of Ferdinand von Habsburg and watched as Sebastiano began chanting in Latin, taking the Ferraranese Ducal crown off of Ferdinand's head and put it into my head, I felt the golden crown of The Duchies of Ferrara and Modena slide down my black hair until it rested on my head. Sebastiano had the authority to do so as The Knights Hospitallier were a monastic order and thus, in addition to being a Knight, a banker, and a diplomat, he was also a Catholic monk, therefore, he had the authority to do coronations. Given that I was crowned during a war, I'd imagine that my allies would immediately recognize my new territory while my enemies would refuse recognize my ascension to this post as legitimate, as for everyone else, they would wait to see whoever wins this war before recognizing any claims, because foreigners wouldn't want to end up making an enemy out of the victor, but the fact that I've already succeeded in conquering Ferrara and Modena, given that I've already forced The Habsburgs to abandon their claims, given that I've matched my ambitious goals of conquering my father's former lands by the summer of 1567, I was certain that we would be victorious once again as we invaded Austria itself. The War for Romagna would soon be over.

"Arise Her most blessed virgin, Teresa I di Savoia, Duchess of Savoia, Duchess of Monferrato, Duchess of Ferrara, and Duchess of Modena!" Sebastiano proclaimed, I rose to my feet as Ferdinand was taken away by Captain Ludovico. I had fulfilled my promise to my mother and achieved my initial goal of the war, now, as I looked to finish the war with a decisive victory on Habsburg soil, I could concentrate on my newer goal, I could concentrate on forging a Kingdom out of Piemonte and Sardinia when it finally came time to negotiate the end of this war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, the end of act four, will be the last chapter I post in this bunch. I'll post the final five chapters of act five later tonight, but, if you're reading this in the future, you already have access to everything.


	20. The Invasion of Austria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The finale of act four. This chapter doesn't really have scenes, it's more of a descriptions of the final few years of the war as Savoy invades Austria.

Act IV.

The War for Romagna.

Chapter XX.

The Invasion of Austria.

* * *

The Ferraranese campaign had been a resounding success and I had been crowned as Duchess of Ferrara and Modena, therefore, all that I needed from The Austrians when it came time to negotiate peace was recognition, the rest of what I wanted would come from Spain and from a separate exchange of land with Milano. Now, what I wanted was rule over Spanish Sardinia, however, that didn't particularly matter, because my role in this war was now to defeat The Austrians, because Sardinia was already occupied whilst Duke Charles IV of Provence was dealing with Avignon, his brother Henri III was now in The Low Countries, King Rene III of France was wreaking havoc all across northern Iberia, while Duke Filippo Maria II of Milan and King Ferrante II of Naples were making gains on Roma itself in their all out war against The Papal States, therefore, it was my job to go and force The Austrians to come onto the negotiation table. Therefore, after giving my armies a little bit of time to rest - they needed it after all - we have been fighting and sieging almost constantly ever since The Battle of Imola, having had fought in The Siege of Forli, The Siege of Modena, The Battle of Maranello, and now The Siege of Ferrara - all of that was draining on an army, meaning that, in addition to deaths, we had to worry about desertions, now, to replace them, we were reliant on mercenaries, because The Duchy of Savoy, much like most of Italia, struggled to recruit new soldiers, especially as those potential recruits heard news about losing their heir at the time on a stormy and muddy day in Forli, therefore rather than fielding fresh Savoyard recruits, we were increasingly dependent on German mercenaries - exactly what my mother and I had tried to avoid, but we can't exactly take a break from fighting a war until we can fully replace each individual mercenary, so it is what it is and I had to live with the fact that The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Monferrato both had cores of Savoyard troops, however, those Savoyard troops were bolstered by soldiers from Imola, Ferraranese volunteers, German mercenaries, and Dauphin Rene's French army which was attached to our army group.

All in all we had nearly twenty-five thousand men in our army group as we crossed Venetian territory around Verona in order to reach Trentino and, beyond that, South Tyrol. I was expecting to encounter fortifications in Trentino and around the city of Innsbruck in Tyrol proper, as these were border territories, Trentino in particular were desired by The Venetians who at one point surrounded the territory on all sides - until The Milanese conquered the area surrounding Brescia with Savoyard assistance in The Second War for Lombardy. In any case, I was suspecting that The Austrian fortifications would be along the borders while the interior of the country would be rather defenseless - aside from the natural barriers of The Alps, however, The Savoyard were no strangers to Alpine terrain, given that The Alps divide my territory in two, so it would take more than mountains to hold us back, we would cross The Alps and we would fight our way to The Danube, where we would reach Vienna itself, and if that wasn't enough, then we would follow The Danube down into The Kingdom of Hungary, tearing through Pressburg and then the twin cities of Buda and Pest on the banks of The Danube. If it was necessary, I would fight my way all the way to The Ottoman border, but I had to hope that winning a Siege of Vienna would be enough to force Austria to the negotiating table, however, before any of that could happen, first we had to win The Siege of Trentino, because until we can conquer this rude protrusion into Italia, we cannot even begin to seriously consider our campaign for Austria.

Yet another siege began when my army group reached Trentino, such was the reality of the day, star fortresses were a relatively new phenomenon and no one knows exactly what the perfect way to face them is - and once a siege tactic was realized, star fortresses all across Europe would be modified to withstand those tactics to the best of their abilities, whether by bolstering their defenses or by positioning their offensive weaponry - emplaced cannons, firearms, and even some archers - now, the both the bow and arrow were rendered obsolescent by the firearm, but not outright completely obsolete, as firearms were still rather unreliable and their effective range was questionable, especially when taking into account differences in elevation due to shooting down from the top of a star fort, therefore, there were still rare times where a shooter could be effective with bows and crossbows in certain situations, however, they were getting increasingly rare, being phased out of combat for years before I was even born, so by now, the crossbow was on its very last legs as a viable weapon, let alone a desired weapon, and soon enough, it would be obsolete, but for now, we may still encounter an odd archer or two desperately defending their homeland from our Italian invasion.

We were ahead of even my ambitious schedule by the time we began The Siege of Trentino, however, The Siege extended into the winter of 1567-1568, and at that point, we were up against more than just The Austrian fortress, now we were up against the harsh Alpine winter of The Dolomiti, which normally would have been fine given that Savoyard troops were used to The Alpine climate, however, The Armata di Savoia had been fighting in Sardinia and then Romagna whilst The Armata di Monferrato had continuously been in Romagna up until now, therefore, our army was not equipped for Alpine winter conditions, however, we didn't have the time to head all the way back to Savoy and be reequipped with winter uniforms, therefore, we would instead have to bear with the conditions - fortunately, local geography meant that the star fort had to be positioned in a low and flat valley, so the conditions here were not as cold as they could be if we were up against a castle built on the top of a mountain overlooking the valley - though then again, at very least such a castle would form an easy target because there was an obvious risk to building a super heavy, super fortified building on top of a mountain - me and my men would have to deal with this valley and its star fort, despite the winter conditions, because we had lofty goals and ambitious passions, we would not be halted in Trentino, we would not allow it!

The winter had been difficult on us, but we survived it - my soldiers knew that victory was closer than ever, they could smell it, and they knew that The Siege of Trentino would be the beginning of the end for The Habsburg alliance in The War for Romagna, after all, we had already defeated an entire branch of the dynasty and forced Ferdinand von Habsburg to abandon his claims to Ferrara and Modena, given that he is the one who would end up with control of Romagna, The Austrians realistically had lost their whole reason for fighting, though I'm sure that The Austrians would have no qualms with annexing Ferrara, Modena, and Romagna themselves if they were to somehow win this war - and by the spring of 1568, I was certain that Trentino was about to fall. The Austrians hoped that the winter would be their advantage, with us either having to retreat or reinforcements finally arriving, however, those reinforcements never came and we never gave up, therefore, in the last week of March, 1568, The Austrians surrendered and we captured Trentino. I would figure that The Duchy of Milan would want to annex Trentino and South Tyrol in peace in order to serve as a buffer to The Venetians - The Milanese did not want to lose Brescia to The Venetians ever again - and eventually, The Milanese would use Trentino and South Tyrol as a gateway to Venice itself, because it was very clear that The Duchy of Milan wanted to expand every which way - Milano wanted a few Swiss Cantons to serve as a buffer zone between the city itself and The Holy Roman Empire, they wanted to push The Repubblica Serenissima off of Italia, and, most obviously, they wanted control of Romagna - I was there to capture The Sforza Lordships of Imola and Forli, and before I had even arrived Duke Filippo Maria II had marched his armies through Bologna and occupied the city - and, just like us, The Milanese had ambitions for creating an Italian Kingdom and, eventually, turning that Italian Kingdom into a unified Italia, and they would start with the regions of Lombardia, Romagna, and, soon enough, Veneto.

Savoy and Milan were close allies, however, I was well aware that, eventually, our goals would conflict with one another, for instance, I did plan to trade Modena to The Milanese, however, they planned to conquer Venezia's mainland holdings in the very near future, just like how we intended to soon conquer Genoa and bring an end to The Republic - I suppose that they would still have Scio off the coast of Anatolia, however, due to the position of those islands, I doubted that The Ottomans, The Knights Hospitalliers, The Athenians, or any other local power would allow the exiled Republic to continue ruling over these islands, especially because of their strategic location - The Hospitalliers for instance could use Scio as a foothold for retaking their old fortress at Smyrna, The Ottomans would obviously want it in order to remove that foothold for The Hospitalliers or anyone else, as for The Duchy of Athens, The House Acciaioli would compete with The House Crispo from The Duchy of The Archipelago in order to fill the void in The Aegean that would surely form if Venezia, Genoa, or both were to fall, both were clearly on the downfall, as The Repubblica Serenissima was struggling to find its place in a new Europe, where trade routes to India by land didn't quite matter as much when The Portuguese were sailing to India and beyond by rounding the southern tip of Africa, and this meant that they were getting involved in the lucrative spice and silk trades directly, cutting out The Venetians who had been a middle man so long, and, slightly less significantly, The Kingdom of Jerusalem's position allowed it to be on the land based trade routes at a point where neither The Venetians nor The Ottomans could collect on taxes, all of this meant that Venezia was losing its prestigious position as the dominant trade power in Europe, the days of The Venetian spice trade and their connections stretching from Egypt to The Hanseatic cities of northern Germany were over, now all that remains is a floating city of marble that was just waiting to be conquered.

The age of The Italian Republic was over, Genoa had lost its footholds in Crimea, Venezia had lost control of The Duchies of The Archipelago and Corfu, The Gonfaloniere of Firenze was either a member of The House de Medici or a powerless servant to their rule of The Republic, it was clear what The Medici wanted to do, they wanted to conquer Siena and Lucca in order to forge a unified Tuscany, and that Tuscan state would not be a Republic, it would be a hereditary post for The Medici, therefore, soon enough, all that would be left were The Savoyard and Milanese Kingdoms, forged out of northern Italia, The Kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the south, Tuscany in the west, and The Papal States in the center, just waiting to be conquered. These would be large and independent realms who could finally resist foreign incursions into Italia, never again would we have to worry that The Austrians, The Spanish, or The French would interfere in our domestic politics, soon enough, Italia would be reduced to those five realms I mentioned earlier. I was somewhat concerned though, as I didn't know what would happen once all the pieces were laid in place - would the alliance between us, Milano, and Napoli survive? If so, how? I was certain that all of us wanted to be the ones to create a unified Italian state, so how would that happen? I suppose that the ideal solution would be for one state to inherit the other two, however, none of us would be able to agree as to who would do it - The House di Napoli was the youngest and least prestigious dynasty, but they also had the most land at the moment and they were the only one who was currently a Kingdom, The House of Sforza was the second youngest but they claimed to be a continuation of The Visconti as bastards, so they could claim to be much older and much more prestigious than they currently were, and, to be fair, they could claim that they were older than The House di Napoli and more Italian than us, and for us, The House di Savoia is an old and prestigious dynasty, with dynastic links throughout Europe, however, we were admittedly of French origin, but how much did that really matter? Did The Austrians care that The House von Habsburg was of Swiss origin? Did The Castillan Spaniards care that The Borgia were of Aragonese origin? Did The Poles care that the reason that they now rule over a massive Commonwealth is because they are ruled by The Lithuanian House Jagiellon? No, therefore, our French roots shouldn't affect our position in Italia, and it shouldn't affect our campaign in Austria as we moved north from Trentino into South Tyrol, getting ever closer to The Austrian heartland.

Our armies advanced rapidly in the late spring and summer of 1568, facing only small skirmishes as we captured village after village in South Tyrol, I had to suspect that majority of The Austrian troops would be in the flatter regions of the country, intent on defeating us with a defensive victory near Vienna before pushing us back through The Alps - understandable, The Austrians would wanted to fight on their terms, however time would tell whether or not they made a correct choice. As for us, after our success in South Tyrol, we entered Tyrol proper to capture the fortified city of Innsbruck before we moved into the interior of the country. We moved north into the city as we saw that it was defended by a small but very fortified Austrian army, they had set up quite a few small forts in the hills around the city to make up for the fact that the city doesn't have a proper star fort - though it is still surrounded by thick and low walls. The Battle of Innsbruck was slow and tedious, but we had the numerical advantage and we used that to our advantage - I moved with The Armata di Savoia to siege down the largest two forts that were directly in between us and the city whilst Lord Ludovico and The Armata di Monferrato moved to capture the three forts on the high hills to the east of The River Inn while Dauphin Rene and his French troops went onto the west bank of The Danubian tributary.

We had opted to divide and conquer, and it seems to have worked because the forts we were up against, while large, were never meant to be permanent fortifications and we soon gained the upper hand over them, watching the quickly put together bricks walls and wooden palisades crumbled - the palisades of the second fortress were particularly brittle as they must have been buried in the winter and thus, now that the snow has melted and the soil is free from frost, it's become clear that the second fortress has been poorly designed, and thus, the second fortress, along with the first, despite their imposing size and the bravery of their defenders, neither fortress stood a chance against us. I looked over to the hills surrounding the banks of the river and heard the sounds of battle end, I saw the smoke rise from burning palisades, all around the city, and I realized now that we were on the hills, and the city laid below us, vulnerable. There was nowhere that the enemy could hide no, we had them surrounded on three sides and we had plenty of cannons to besiege the city, especially given the outdated fortifications - though, admittedly, there isn't much room for bastions here in The Austrian Alps.

Our cannons tore Innsbruck to shreds by the time the city finally surrendered in the late summer of 1568, now the interior of Austria is ours for the taking, The Armata di Savoia was joined by The Armata di Monferrato and Dauphin Rene's army once again as we pushed eastward, targeting Vienna itself. Before the winter, we managed to push across the south of the country all the way to Klagenfurt, occupying Carniola and Carinthia in the south while doing so. The war quieted down in the winter as usual, so Lord Ludovico, Dauphin Rene, and I used this opportunity to plan for our moves in the spring of 1569 and beyond - first all three groups would move together to Graz, besieging the city and opening the way up to a Siege of Vienna from the south, Lord Ludovico would remain in Graz until we were ready, meanwhile, Dauphin Rene and I would make a wide arc through central Austria, trying to occupy land from the internal border with Lower Austria and The Imperial border with Salzburg as we moved up to capture Linz in Upper Austria. Once both Linz and Graz were occupied, we would launch a two pronged offensive upon Vienna itself, The Armata di Savoia with The French attachment coming from Upper Austria, and The Armata di Monferrato coming from Styria, hopefully, this would be enough to end this theater of the war, if not, then we shall advance into the heart of The Kingdom of Hungary as well.

In the winter news reached us that Ancona, Umbria, and Terni had fallen to Milanese and Neapolitan troops, now all that remained is Roma itself, meanwhile, in Iberia, King Rene III of France had reached the coast and capture Barcelona, now, his next target was Toledo itself, Avignon had fallen to Provence and Duke Charles IV has returned to Sardinia and Corsica in order to defend the islands from a Spanish counterattack, and, in The Low Countries, Luxembourg and Antwerp had fallen to French and Lothringian forces, now, with aid from The Bishopric of Utrecht, they had their eyes set on capturing the fortified cities of Holland, including Rotterdam and Amsterdam, once they were captured, then The Spanish Netherlands would be firmly under our control. Our alliance was so close to winning the war on all fronts, these would be the last few years of the war, when Roma, Toledo, and Vienna would all fall under our might, then surely it would be time to negotiate. The states of Italia would be strong and independent, France would have dominance over continental Europe, and Austria and Spain would be disgraced and forced to find new allies in order to contain French hegemony. England would be no help, as England would not get involved in wars on the continent unless those wars benefitted England and England alone, Denmark was preoccupied with trying to regain its dominance over Scandinavia and The Baltic, and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Well The Catholic colossus had far more to worry about than the squabbling of the great powers of western Europe. Therefore, it seems that Austria and Spain may be forced to ally together if it meant containing France - we were interested in containing France as well, if for nothing else than to keep them out of Italia, but we were not so interested as to turn against our French allies, and our interest in containing France only applied to keeping The French out of Italia, for all we care, King Rene III could hold land from the tip of Brittany to The Rhine with personal unions over Austria and England, we didn't care how strong France got, in fact, a strong France could prove to be an excellent ally, so long as they are willing to accept our borders - I wanted to expand my realm, but I had no interest in expanding into France, so if I could accept a status quo along our French border, couldn't The French accept that as well?

I knew that there would be plenty of consequences of this war once we have peace at last, however, before we could deal with the fallout of a post-war world, we would first have to ensure that there was no war, therefore, in the spring of 1569, I lead The Armata di Savoia, Lord Ludovico Sforza lead The Armata di Monferrato, and Dauphin Rene lead his forces, all of us marching to Graz - the future King Rene IV had been relatively silent ever since I showed him what happens to foreigners encroaching on Italia with the torture of Ferdinand von Habsburg culminating in his forced abdication and my immediate coronation, I suppose that this means my message got to him - hopefully this means that, when he rises to the throne, then French ambitions will transition elsewhere, perhaps their continental dominance will allow for them to focus on colonizing The New World instead, or on defeating their enemies in England, this would give us a little bit of breathing room to expand and consolidate until we no longer seem like an easy catch, until the states of Italia could stand up to foreign incursions on our own, and until my dynasty was in position to dominant the politics and economies of the entire Italian peninsula. My ambitions were lofty but we were so close to achieving a huge chunk of my ambitions, we were so close to finally avenging Pietro, we were so close to permanently altering the status quo of western Europe politics - I was very excited as we reached Graz, because as The Siege of Graz became on April 2nd, 1569, I could taste victory.

The cannons began firing and wearing down the star fortress defending Graz, we were now well into The Austrian heartland and the defenders were fighting for their country - Austrians and Hungarians alike were fighting in defense of their Emperor and their King, The Habsburgs were incredibly powerful with their dominance over The Holy Roman Empire and now, their extensive holdings outside of it, especially the massive Kingdom of Hungary, stretching from The Adriatic Sea across The Pannonian Basin to The Carpathian Mountains, but this Kingdom has spent so much of its history under the rule of others, at one point Hungary was ruled by The House d'Anjou, soon after, it fell under the rule of the House Jagiellon, in fact, Hungary and Poland were in a personal union prior to a succession crisis that eventually resulted in The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for Poland and Habsburg rule for Hungary, culminating in an outright personal union with Hungary once the last Hungarian King died without an heir. In any case, this was has likely resulted in Austria strengthening their position over Hungary, as The Austrians would incorporate Hungarian troops to their own army under the excuse of simplicity, intertwine their financial institutions under the guise of financing the war and redistributing the war debt, and strengthening the centralized power by declaring states of emergency in order to siphon power away from The Hungarian nobility, therefore, by the time the war was over, I'm sure that The Hungarians would realize that they've effectively lost their status as an equal partner in this dynastic union and instead have been integrated into Austria in all but name. The integrated military became blatantly clear when, during the third month of The Siege of Graz, an army of Hungarians, including their infamous Hussars, had arrived in order to relieve the siege.

Lord Ludovico, Dauphin Rene, and I quickly positioned our armies for combat rather than for besieging in order to face The Hungarians. My army stood firm as their cavalry got closer and closer, until finally, I gave the order and our cannons fired upon The Hussars, I heard the explosions, I saw the smoke, I saw horses tumbled to the ground, but I saw the remaining hussars were undeterred, the kept charging as we kept firing until they reached our infantry, now our pikemen were able to finish off The Hussars, but not without taking losses, and by the time we finished off those Hussars, we had Hungarian infantry to contend with. The fighting was harsh and brutally long, because, while my soldiers were better equipped, The Hungarians were more experienced and they were vicious fighters, so we took heavy, heavy losses, however, in the end, Hungarian losses were greater and we repelled them in The Battle of Graz, and soon after, the city would fall to our siege. This wouldn't be the end of Austrian and Hungarian counterattacks, in fact, this may only be the very beginning as The Habsburgs wanted to wear down our armies before delivering a killing blow at Vienna which they would use in order to push us all the way out of Austria, but we weren't going to let that happen, we would not let these Hungarians deter us, so we recovered from The Battle of Graz, we hired mercenaries to fill the gaps, and we left Lord Ludovico in Graz as Dauphin Rene and I left Styria in order to reach Linz, which we will besiege and conquer before our two pronged assault on Vienna.

Dauphin Rene and I marched north towards Linz, occupying a large expanse of land whilst doing so, The Armata di Savoia took a more direct route, occupying villages and towns between Graz and Linz while Dauphin Rene's army took a wider arc, hugging The Salzburgian border, this way we could occupy more and more of Austria and force The Habsburgs to act as their country threatens to collapse into internal strife with an increasing number of the population feeling abandoned by their rulers as these strange Savoyard and French armies overrun their country. Austria was a strong country, Hungary was strong as well, however, that strength also meant that all troops they send to fight us in Austria are troops that have to leave The Ottoman border vulnerable, and The Ottomans don't play by European standards either, they are exceptionally brutally and don't care about territorial claims or rightful thrones, for them, a war against Europe was a war against heathens, and they would use that to justify any conquest. The Habsburgs were expecting our forces and The Spanish-Papal forces to destroy each other, but the war had been too rapid and The Austrians, who saw our retreat to Imola as a weakness, could not have predicted how quick and how decisive our rebound war. The Spanish and Papal armies had made a massive blunder when they decided to wait until the spring to finish us off, because before I reorganized and drilled my armies with Lord Ludovico's help, before we finished rebuilding the fortress of Imola after our siege of the city earlier in the war, and before Dauphin Rene arrived with crucial French aid, we were vulnerable, but by the spring, we were more than ready to face any threat in Imola, and then we defeated our enemies and advanced to Forli, and now, here we are in Austria, close to winning the war.

We were nearing Linz in September of 1569 we encountered an Austrian army in the town of Steyr, we faced these Austrians once again - The Austrian army was equipped somewhat better than The Hungarians and were more westernized, however, I could see that both armies were increasingly being equipped the same, as somewhat of a step down for The Austrians but as a step up for The Hungarians, and eventually, the two armies would get stronger together, but they had a lot of men to reequip - an upside of having a small army is that we don't need to reequip more men than we can handle, Austria meanwhile has to deal with two massive armies despite not being as rich as the emerging colonial powers - Austria's only ports are on The Adriatic Sea, far from any potential colonies, and much of Austria proper is Alpine - much of The Duchy of Savoy is Alpine as well but we also have vineyards in Monferrato and access to many very lucrative sea trade routes on The Ligurian Sea and between France, Italia, and The Holy Roman Empire, Austria is at the edge of The Empire and, while The Austrians and Hungarians do control much of The Danube River, their borders do not extend to the mouth of The Danube nor to The Black Sea that it empties into. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth controls the mouth of The Danube as it empties into The Black Sea in Moldavia, which has long been under Polish influence and eventually under direct Polish rule, additionally, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has come to dominate over The Black Sea itself with control over Moldavia and Crimea, however, their long time rivals in The Ottoman Empire control access to The Black Sea from The Mediterranean, and thus, The Ottomans prevent Polish fleets from reaching The Mediterranean Sea, and that has been the case ever since the fall of Constantinople to The Turk.

In any case, we were locked in battle against The Austrians in Steyr, our armies were slowly gaining the upper hand and pushing them back, however, what really proved to be the killing blow for The Austrians was when Dauphin Rene and his forces arrived from the west and attacked The Austrians from behind, forcing them to surrender. We had won The Battle of Steyr, opening up the way to Linz. Dauphin Rene and his forces joined my army once more as we finally marched for the city with a line of disarmed Austrian prisoners forced to follow us - I'm sure that the hostages would expedite The Siege of Linz and eventually, total Austrian surrender as we finally reached our goal and began The Siege. We began blasting their fortress apart as the guns of Linz remained silent - they weren't willing to fire upon us and risk killing their own countrymen - we would leave these hostages in Linz after we won this Siege, the war would take us to Hungary if we needed to use hostages to capture Vienna, we needed a decisive and fair victory over The Habsburgs in Vienna in order to end this war right there in Vienna.

Linz was torn apart and they couldn't fight back, not with the hostages, therefore, in November 1569, the city fell to us and we imprisoned the hostages and the defenders of the fortress within the dungeons of Linz. The war once again slowed down for the winter - Ippolita and the twins had long since returned to Sciamberi in Savoy when the war dragged on so long that Pietro and Francesca's posthumous children were at the point where they were blossoming to a bright young girl and young boy respectively, but she couldn't have my niece and nephew, who were now our adopted children, growing up in Imola, they had to be raised in Savoy, our home. I regretted that they were now three years old, four in April, yet I have spent next to no time with them at all - unfortunately, they were born in the middle of a crucial war that demanded my attention, but I wanted to end this war and see them face to face now. I had to fear that the twins wouldn't recognize me when they finally saw me face to face, they would have no idea who I was - I was sure that Ippolita taught them all about me whenever possible, and of course she must have taught them about Francesca and Pietro as well - poor children never even got to see their actual parents - but it's one thing to know about a person, it's a whole different beast to actually know the person...there was plenty to do with my family life once I returned to Savoy whenever this war was finally over.

In the spring of 1570 I sent a letter to Lord Ludovico to move on Vienna, a day after that message was sent, Dauphin Rene and I left Linz to join Lord Ludovico once he arrived in Vienna - we were making the move to end the war, so three armies arranged in two groups marched upon The Imperial capital, all while our allies were marching upon Roma, upon Toledo, and upon Spanish controlled Amsterdam, we were on the verge of winning the war on every single front, all at once - victory was in reach. The Siege of Vienna began as our armies slammed against the legions of Austrian and Hungarian soldiers outside of the walls of the fortress, twenty-thousand defenders stood between us and the walls of The Austrian capital, all the while the cannons on the walls fired down on us with explosive fury, but our forces were stronger, our forces were more numerous, and the momentum was with us. We defeated The Austrians are a few days of hard fighting and the survivors retreated, entering the city from an entrance on the opposite side - we didn't bother pursuing, instead, we laid siege to The Danubian city.

The Siege of Vienna lasted almost an entire year as the fortifications around Vienna were state-of-the-art and the defenders were so brave and so determined to keep us from getting inside - we moved our soldiers all around the city and ensured that there was no escape from Vienna, that there was no escape for The Holy Roman Emperor and any of his relatives within the city - I could see the banner of The Emperor - a black double-headed eagle bearing the coats of arms of each and every Prince within The Holy Roman Empire on top of a golden background - above The Austrian Palace, that meant that The Emperor was indeed here, the flag is only meant to be flown at the residence of The Emperor and only when The Emperor is in attendance. The Emperor eventually realized that his city was surrounded, that his people were starving, and the walls around around him were crumbling, therefore, on March 16th, 1571, a white flag was flown over Vienna and the city surrendered. I marched my army into the city and we walked down the main avenue of the city to get to The Imperial Palace, my army gathered in the gardens of The Imperial Palace of Austria and The Habsburg Emperor vocally and officially surrendered to me, taking Austria and Hungary out of the war and in response, I turned to my soldiers.

"Vittoria di Savoia!" I yelled.

"Vittoria di Savoia!" my army echoed.

"Vittoria d'Italia!" I yelled again.

"Vittoria d'Italia!" my army celebrated, we had won The War for Romagna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last chapter for the next few hours, I'll post the final five chapters by the end of the day. Next chapters covers the treaty to end this war.


	21. The Treaty of Milano

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of act five.

Act V.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Chapter XXI.

The Treaty of Milano.

* * *

I took my seat at the negotiating table on the right of Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza of Milan, King Rene III de Valois of France was on his left, and King Ferrante II di Napoli of Naples and Sicily was on my right. Across from us sat Pope Constantinus II and King Juan III Borgia of Spain, an empty seat divided them and Franz VI von Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, and Holy Roman Emperor. We had gathered in Milano in The May of 1571 to end the war, Roma had fallen to Filippo Maria II and Ferrante II, Toledo had fallen to Rene III, and I had taken Vienna where Franz VI surrendered to me personally. The war had been a glorious success, we had taken losses, we had suffered setbacks, but in the end, we had won, and now, the major players of the war would decide how to distribute the spoils.

"You have us here...now tell us what you'll take." King Juan III said, far from pleased - who can blame him, The Spanish Empire, the ones who had discovered and came to rule over so much of The New World, the ones who had inherited Burgundy, and thus became a great power twice-over, even with France seizing all of Burgundy's lands outside of the borders of The Holy Roman Empire, this made Spain incredibly strong, but now, the country which had expelled The Moors from Iberia once and for all, that had seized Navarra and Aragon to unite all of Iberia except for Portugal under one banner, that country had been humiliated by France, Naples, and a handful of Duchies, despite being allied with The Papal States, even the most pious of Spaniards must have to wonder what went wrong when their mighty Catholic monarchy and The Papacy itself had been defeated - not to mention The Holy Roman Emperor as well, though Austria was at war with Spain and The Papal States as well. In any case, it was time to seize the fruits of our victory, and given that this was Filippo Maria II's war, it's only fitting that he is the first one to make demands to our defeated enemies.

"The annexation of Romagna, including the city of Bologna as well as the fortress of Imola and Forli is my first demand." Duke Filippo Maria announced to The Pope, understandably starting out with the very goal of the war.

"Very well," The Pope sighed "This was inevitable."

"My second demand is to The Emperor," Filippo Maria continued "I demand the rightfully Italian territories of Trentino and South Tyrol, furthermore, I want a promise of non-intervention in any wars between The Duchy of Milan - or any theoretical successor states - and The Imperial state of The Swiss Confederation." The Duke was annexing Trentino and South Tyrol outright, in addition, he wanted a promise of Austrian neutrality for when he invades Switzerland - and by theoretical successor states, he is referring to The Milanese Kingdom he wants to create.

"A war against Switzerland?" Franz VI asked.

"Yes," Filippo Maria replied.

"How much land do you intend to acquire?" Franz VI asked, The Habsburgs were of Swiss origin and, as Holy Roman Emperors, they could not tolerate all of Switzerland being under Italian control - Savoy had acquired The Cantons of Vaud and Valais while still under The Holy Roman Empire, thus we faced no complaints over that particular annexation, it was just one of many wars between Imperial Princes, however, The Emperor is supposed to defend Princes from any outside aggressors - though if Switzerland were to declare war and then lose to Milan with land as reparations, then that doesn't involve The Emperor, however, a Milanese invasion of Switzerland would demand Imperial intervention, regardless of existing treaties. After some debating back and forth, The Emperor agreed to Filippo Maria's request for non-intervention, however, Filippo Maria had also agreed to only annex two Cantons, one of which was directly north of Milano, the other was separated from Brescia only by The Alps, providing The Duchy of Milan's two largest cities with buffers between them and The Holy Roman Empire.

"Finally," Filippo Maria continued "I ask that everyone in this room, my allies included, avoid making any alliances with The Repubblica Serenissima di Venezia and to allow me to end centuries of tension between Lombardy and Venezia." This was what Duke Filippo Maria II really wanted, sure his family held land in Romagna, but this annexation also gave him access to The Adriatic where he could form a blockade against the powerful city-state, The Swiss Cantons would keep any of Venezia's allies in The Holy Roman Empire busy and away from Milano itself, Trentino and South Tyrol's Italian connections come from Venezia, and their fortress will provide an excellent defensive line from which he could begin his conquering Venetian territory, including the floating city of marble itself.

"Venezia has been a valuable ally against The Ottomans." The Pope argued "Venetian islands in Greece have been instrumental in limiting Turkish piracy in The Mediterranean Sea."

"I have no interest in Crete or Dalmatia, The Repubblica Serenissima may live on for centuries without Venezia for all I care, what I want is Verona, Veneto, and Venezia, nothing more - I'll even spare Istria." Filippo Maria replied, reluctantly, my allies agreed to this blatant power play, and our enemies were forced to agree to it, The Milanese would be free to capture Venezia's possessions in Italia.

"First of all," I began, seizing the opportunity to make my demands next, I would start with the promise I made to my mother all those years ago "I want recognition for my status as Duchess of Ferrara and Modena."

"Very well, but I want Ferdinand released." Franz VI argued, I had imprisoned Ferdinand von Habsburg after crippling him and forcing him to surrender his claims to both Duchies before finally abdicating.

"Granted," I replied, the deposed Habsburg cadet was no use to me anymore, now it was time to remove the last bit of foreign held land in Italia "My second and final demand is annexation of the entire islands of Sardinia and Corsica."

"Teresa," King Rene III interjected "The cost of the war has been financed heavily by Genoese bankers, these bankers are willing to accept the return of the island of Corsica as payment."

"The cost of your war," I replied, somewhat harshly - I would not be an obedient slave to The French, I wasn't like Duke Charles IV of Provence or Henri III of Lorraine, I was able to resist French encroachment "The Duchy of Savoy has no debt with Genoa."

"Do not do something you'll regret over a little island Teresa," King Rene III replied, but I was not scared, because he gave away that he sees Corsica as nothing more than a little island to pawn off to some bankers in place of actual gold, meanwhile, to me, Corsica was a constituent Duchy of Italia and belonged in Italian hands, preferably my hands - The Genoese wouldn't be able to keep Corsica safe from foreign powers, they've already lost it once and they were much stronger back then, nowadays, Corsica means nothing, especially given that I intended to conquer The Republic later in my reign, long after The Duchy of Savoy or whatever successor state I may form recovers from The War for Romagna.

"Listen," King Ferrante II interjected "I propose a solution that will please both of you, The Genoese bankers will elect one of their own to serve as a hereditary Marquis of Corsica, The Marquisate will answer to Savoy but Savoy will not be permitted to annex the island, even in the event of a war between Genoa and Savoy - and in such a war, Corsica is obligated to support Savoy."

"Very well," I replied, The Neapolitan King was aware of the strong possibility of war between myself and Genoa - after all Savoy and Genoa have had quite a few skirmishes, mostly over Nizza as the city was historically Ligurian like Genoa but it provides us with much needed access to The Mediterranean Sea, and now, much of Liguria is under my control after the last war with Genoa prior to my mother's ascension to The Savoyard throne. I suppose that an Italian Marquisate was fine, it would essentially be a militarized vassal, capable of defending itself but subservient to my rule, I would make do with this compromise so long as I still get control over all of Sardinia.

"Fine," Rene huffed, unhappy but unwilling to press the issue any further, especially not here on the negotiating table in front of our enemies who may think that some prodding may cause our alliance to crumble in time for a second war where Austria and Spain, allies by circumstance, could regain what they have lost, which was already coming to be quite a bit.

"Very well," Juan III Borgia sighed "Sardinia will become Savoyard and Corsica a Savoyard subject."

"Is that all?" King Rene asked me, impatient to make his own demands.

"Yes," I replied, arrogantly - I would discuss my plan for trading Modena for Novara with The Milanese separately, after this war was officially over and we had finished up with our Austrian, Spanish, and Papal enemies - I'm sure The Habsburgs and The Borgias would be having discussions of their own in the near future as well - I'm sure that Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza would agree, Modena was the more valuable city and it would provide him with a continuous border between his capital and The Adriatic Sea, Novara wasn't as useful to him, but to me, it provided me with a longer border from which I could attack The Genoese, and it would also give me justification to finally move my capital to Torino as it would be more centralized - the time was right because The French would be too exhausted with recovering from the war and incorporating their new territory to threaten my lands in Sciamberi or Nizza, additionally, The French would be up against a Kingdom rather than a mere Duchy as that was my true goal of acquiring this land, to forge an Italian Kingdom out of Piemonte and Sardinia.

"Good," The French King replied before making demands of his own, as expected, Rene III demanded that The Spanish surrender their Basque land and the title of King of Navarra to him, this allowed him to become King Rene I of Navarre, resurrecting a 12th century personal union between the two realms, additionally, The now French and Navarrese King demanded that Spain finally hands over The Free County of Burgundy - though he did not demand any territory from The Spanish Low Countries, nor did he demand anything in terms of ending war with Utrecht, therefore, Spain should be able to crush the little Bishopric that tried to help us, as well as any other Dutch revolts, however, we can still hope that we devastated The Spanish armies enough that our little Dutch friend can at least seek a dignified peace with The Spanish - they have lost this war, but that would only make them more vicious against The Utrechtians. Rene finally demanded that The Papal States release Avignon to The Duchy of Provence, putting an end to the exclave.

King Ferrante II of Naples demanded that Spain abandons all its claims in Naples, Sicily, and Malta, recognize Neapolitan independence, and a few miniscule Papal exclaves in The Kingdom of Naples, including Benevento, were handed over to King Ferrante II, cleaning up the borders of southern Italy. We had made our demands and our enemies had no choice but to accept it, the new borders were officially drawn up and everyone approved them, then we entered the second phase of negotiating and eventually, we agreed that The Treaty of Milano would guarantee peace between all parties for ten years - ensuring that there would be no border disputes until all sides had consolidated their new territory and rebuilt their armies. I was satisfied with The Treaty of Milano, I had gotten almost everything I wanted out of The War for Romagna, with the small exception of the Corsica situation, however, I had gotten the larger island and I now had more than enough land in my possession to forge a Kingdom, though not everything was perfect. Now that France has control over The Free County of Burgundy rather than Spain, that means that my entire western border is with France or with France's ally, Provence - France was my ally for now, however, Rene III still had designs on Italia and I'm sure that he isn't pleased about my open opposition to his plan for Corsica, therefore, all of this could change very quickly, especially if The French King decides that I'm no longer useful to him, but I would not be the one to break the alliance or the peace.

* * *

"You wanted to speak?" Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza asked me as we walked along the walls of Castello Sforzesco the evening after signing The Treaty, I was meeting with him to discuss the switch of Modena and Novara.

"Yes," I replied "I would like to propose a land exchange."

"Well what land do you wish to exchange?" Sforza asked, for all he knew, I was about to make some completely unjustified demand, when in reality, all I'm doing is cleaning up some of the borders by giving a valuable but distant city to my Milanese ally in exchange for a larger continuous Piedmontese realm for myself. Ferrara would remain in my control and would serve to be somewhat of an annoyance, however, I did intend that to only last for a generation, as I would leave my main realm to my niece Isabella di Savoia while Ferrara would go to my nephew Gianmaria, now one day, I was sure that these two realms would be united once again when we eventually seek to unify Italia, but for right now, there was no need to keep the exclave for generations when I could instead give land to both of Pietro's children and ensure that neither of them would become pretenders and rip the family apart through civil war. I would honor the actions of my ancestors, The Duchy of Savoy would continue with the absolute cognatic succession law drawn up two generations ago by my grandfather when his sons were lost in The Ligurian War against Genoa, leaving my mother Giovanna Vittoria II as Duchess, named after a Duchess-Regent who had ruled Savoy long before that. In The Duchy of Ferrara, The House d'Este had long operated under the law of agnatic-cognatic succession and this it was fitting that Gianmaria would be the heir - preferably under the name of Gianmaria II, despite the fact that my father had never actually ascended to the throne, we would recognize him as the true Duke of Ferrara and Modena while The Habsburgs were just usurpers.

"I am willing to offer you Modena - which would link your holdings in Parma with your new land in Romagna - and, in exchange, all I ask for is Novara." I explained, trying to make this exchange seem as charitable as possible in order to get The Milanese Duke to accept my offer here and now. The offer was indeed rather charitable, I'd keep Modena if I thought that it would be relatively easy to govern, however, I didn't want to have to deal with negotiating with foreign powers to move my armies from Piemonte to Modena every single time The Modenese nobility decided that they were sick of my rule - with Ferrara, first of all, the nobles weren't as rich, second of all, the territory had belonged to The House d'Este for infinitely longer than Modena had, so those poorer nobles would also be more loyal to begin with, and finally, I would maintain a small army there supplied by ships coming from Nizza.

"Just Modena?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied before explaining "I intend to grant Ferrara to my nephew."

"And the rest of your realm goes to your niece?" Sforza asked, evidently more out of curiosity than suspicion.

"Correct," I answered "I intend to create an Italian Kingdom."

"As do I: The Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto, it would be a might realm, to finally have Milano and Venezia under one banner..." Filippo Maria trailed off "All that remains in my way now is The Venetians."

"For me, it would be The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, an Italian realm for what is now an Italian House, and all of it would be centered around Torino." At this point Filippo Maria and I were standing together above the gates of The Castello Sforzesco, looking out of the city of Milano, the impressive capital of my closest ally - it was surely a beautiful city, and I intended to make Torino just as great as Milano, but I knew that I had quite a task ahead of me - though The Palazzo di Torino is already very large and very impressive, certainly more modern than Castello Sforzesco, which was a massive compound, however, it was still a very Medieval compound, and despite all the renovations and impressive pieces of Renaissance art, The Castello was still very outdated, just like The Palazzo di Sciamberi, with the added flaw that Castello Sforzesco is more of a fortress than a Palace, I suspected that Filippo Maria II knew that as well.

"Well then," The Milanese Duke responded "Modena for Novara? Very well, Teresa, I know that an ally like The House di Savoia to the west is a greater bulwark for Milano than Novara can ever be."

"Thank you," I said as we shook hands, Filippo Maria II knew that I would remain his ally and that The House di Savoia and The House of Sforza were natural allies, therefore, Milano no longer needed a buffer zone in Novara, they didn't see their capital as exposed, they saw it as much better defended as now, rather than one city and the surrounding County defended Milano, it was a massive and great Duchy that was soon to become a Kingdom.

* * *

The next morning as I was leaving The Castello Sforzesco, I ran into Lord Ludovico Sforza of Imola, the man who had served as my mentor and general during The War for Romagna, my adopted children were born in his Palazzo, and the man who had won The Austrian theater of the war for us. The Lord was preparing his carriage to return to Imola - while only myself, The Kings of France and Naples, and Duke Filippo Maria II were there at the negotiating table itself, all the members of our alliance, no matter how minor, had arrived here in Milano. Lord Ludovico was here, his counterpart from Forli was here, The Valois-Anjou brothers from Provence and Lorraine were here, Duke Carlo II Gonzaga of Mantua was here, Dauphin Rene was here, the only player who wasn't present was The Bishop of Utrecht who was preoccupied with defending his realm from The Spanish Netherlands that surrounded him from the south and from the west - The Treaty of Milano did nothing to affect the war between Utrecht and Spain, and after such a humiliating defeat, I was sure that Spain wanted to reestablish its position as a great power by crushing The Utrechtians and even conquering the rest of The Low Countries from Utrecht, Gelre, Liege, Friesland, and East Frisia, all of which are part of The Holy Roman Empire, but it remains to be seen how the relationship between Spain and Austria progresses as a response to France defeating them both and establishing what is essentially continental dominance, being the strongest country west of The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Our victory has brought France into dominance, laid the groundwork for Italian Kingdoms, and has radically damaged the reputations of both Spain and Austria, this created a radically different landscape in western Europe, and, a small part of that is because of Lord Ludovico's help to myself and The Duchy of Savoy, therefore, it was only right that I give him a proper farewell and sincerely thank him for his valiant service.

"Hello Lord Ludovico," I greeted him as servants loaded both his wagon and my own, naturally, since I was a Duchess, my wagon was significantly larger and significantly more grand, pulled by eight horses while his was pulled by only four, though that's because The Duchy of Savoy was very large and very rich while Imola was a Lordship consisting of a single landlocked town fortified by a large and very modern star fortress.

"Hello Duchess Teresa," he replied "I understand that you're pleased with The Treaty?"

"I wanted to thank you, for all your help." I told him, Lord Ludovico was not only an excellent general in his own right, able to wrangle and control his troops so tightly, he was able to keep his troops drilled so properly that his skills far outweighed his position, and I can only hope that Duke Filippo Maria II will realize his potential as he gears up for his war against The Venetians, but he also made me a substantially better general in my own right - I had managed in Nizza and in Sardinia, but even then I had made some stupid moves and nearly lost my army in The Battle of Sassari before Duke Charles IV de Valois-Anjou arrived with his Provencal forces to save me, in The Siege of Imola, I wasn't alone so I can't necessarily count that as an individual victory, and then, in Forli, for the first time I had suffered an absolutely humiliating defeat and lost Pietro, therefore, the cold heart truth is that my only individual victory before Lord Ludovico was in Nizza against a disorganized and poorly equipped group of nobles and their levies. I was not fit to lead armies back then, but now, thanks to this Sforza Lord who I was now face to face with, perhaps for the last time, I was more than war ready, and for that, he has my eternal gratitude.

"It's no problem Teresa," he replied "This was my war just as much as it was yours, The Papal States had shown me time and time again that, despite being under the rule of His Holiness, is hardly a holy state, and I would rather be subject to my own family, a family that has never wronged me, than to The Papal States, and we had won, Imola is free. You may have won plenty of land, but I have won freedom for Imola, uniting my city with Filippo Maria II's Duchy, uniting The House of Sforza's holdings once and for all - I am happy to fight and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead your troops, and I will gladly fight alongside you again if the opportunity presents itself."

"I would be glad to," I smiled before hugging The Sforza Lord "But still, thank you."

"You're welcome Teresa, you're welcome." Lord Ludovico hugged me back before the two of us departed, he was heading back to Imola and I was going back to The Duchy of Savoy in order to forge a Kingdom.

* * *

I had summoned The Savoyard court to Torino, meeting in the large and modern Palazzo di Torino rather than The Palazzo di Sciamberi - Chambery had been the capital of Savoy ever since it was a mere county, however, this was a new era for The House di Savoia, gone were the days of a French dynasty holding Italian land, now it was going to be an Italian dynasty, and rather than our capital being a French Alpine town rechristened with an Italian name, our capital would be our greatest city, our Italian city, our capital would be Torino in the heart of Piemonte, across The Alps from Sciamberi, north of Cuneo, Nizza, and Liguria, west of Monferrato and Novara, and south of Valais and Vaud, Torino was in the heart of my possessions on The Italian mainland, therefore, it was only natural that Torino would be my capital, especially given that my reign began as The Marchioness of Torino. I intended to forge The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, therefore, if the capital is in Piemonte, then its fitting that the coronation city is in Sardinia, therefore, my coronation would be in Cagliari - the largest city on the island - and my reign would be in Torino, I had this figured out, now all I had to do was to get my court here and get all of this organized.

"Ippolita!" I hugged my lover as she finally arrived in Torino with the twins, it's been years since I've seen them, after all the fighting and negotiating, I was now thirty years old and Ippolita would be as well in a few months, meanwhile, the twins were now five years old. Isabella di Savoia was blossoming into a bright and beautiful young girl, neatly straightened black hair, an elegant pink dress, and already holding a large book - I was very interested in finding out what exactly Isabella is reading, given that she was holding the book tightly against her chest. Gianmaria meanwhile was growing into the spitting image of Pietro, he was wearing a white and red tunic and dark trousers, he was already growing his hair out like Pietro did - I'm sure if the child could go a beard at his age, he'd have his father's facial hair as well. The loss of Pietro and Francesca was tragic, and now, for five years, the twins had been raised by Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato, now, she was my lover and there was no one I trusted more to take care of them, however, from their perspective, they were being raised by a relatively minor courtier from Casale Monferrato rather than by the sister of their deceased father, but I had to deal with fighting the war, and now that we finally had peace, I could raise Pietro's children, establish my Kingdom, and lead The House di Savoia into Italian dominance.

"I missed you so much Teresa," Ippolita replied, I wanted to kiss her, I wanted to do that and so much more to her after all this time apart, but everything was far too public right now, and I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to explain the situation to the twins. Eventually, I reluctantly broke off my hug with Ippolita and kneeled down in front of the children, I wasn't sure if I should hug them first or if I should start by introducing myself -I know that Ippolita must have told them all about me, but did that mean that they would actually recognize me? Did that mean that they would be comfortable around me? I didn't know, I wasn't sure where I was going to start out with the children - I knew that, eventually, they would see me as a mother figure, but until then, it would be awkward and it would be difficult, as I try to make up for five years of lost time.

"Hello Isabella, hello Gianmaria," I greeted them gently, keeping a pleasant smile on my face and speaking softly, I wanted to see as nice as possible in case they saw me as a stranger. It was hard to read their faces, the kids looked like fish-out-of-water, but I wasn't sure if that was because they didn't know who I was - they know that there's a Duchess Teresa I di Savoia, but did they connect the dots yet? They could also have this out-of-place expression because they haven't been to The Palazzo di Torino, given that they were born in Imola and then Ippolita took them to Sciamberi so that they would be raised in more familiar surroundings.

"Hello," Isabella greeted awkwardly, not wanting to look me in the eyes and not coming any closer, just holding her book tightly, I guess she must have felt secure when holding it, the book, whatever it was, was something familiar to the young girl, and that was helping her cope as she arrived in this strange and massive palace in a strange and massive city, I understood why she was clinging to something that made her feel a sense of familiarity.

"Hello," Gianmaria was just as awkward, just echoing his sister and not looking me in the eyes either, he didn't have a book or a blanket or anything to cope with, he was just resting his hands on the sides of his trousers, not sure what he should do.

"Children," Ippolita joined me, kneeling down to my side, the kids were clearly a lot more comfortable around The Italo-Grecian beauty than they were around me, but hopefully, Ippolita could help bridge that gap and make the kids come around and love me as a substitute mother, with Ippolita being another substitute mother...I admitted that I wasn't quite sure how this was going to work, obviously I've never raised any children before, nor do I have much experience with becoming a mother to a pair of five year old children, but here I was, and now I had to figure out how to do this the hard way, fortunately, the love of my life was here to help me "This is your aunt, Duchess Teresa, she's back from Milano, where she was meeting with some very important people."

We continued to try but we had no luck in establishing a connection between myself and the twins, that would have to wait until later. In the meantime I allowed everyone to get situated within The Palazzo di Torino - after all, my entire court had to move from Sciamberi to Torino, sure there was a skeleton staff as well as guards to keep The Palazzo operational and safe from any potential looters, but there's a massive difference between The Palazzo being unused and The Palazzo serving as the monarch's residence. I also took the opportunity to change out of my travel dress into a blue and white dress with red trim, as well as a red sash, additionally, I put on my ducal dress crown - the dress crown was not as elaborate as the coronation crown, however, it was also significantly more comfortable and modern, as dress crowns are often replaced, because unlike coronation crowns, they don't need to be as old or prestigious - to wear the same coronation crown as their predecessors have for centuries is a very prestigious position, though no one is expected to wear that crown every single day, in fact, wearing that crown daily would likely lead to the coronation crown eventually being destroyed. I looked at myself in the mirror and the dark blue, white, and red of my dress reminded me of the image I saw on Sardinia six years ago, the image that I had found so striking - to see the flag of The Duchy of Savoy flying against the clear blue skies of Sardinia, I knew that the flag of this Sardinian Kingdom must reference this image, therefore, the flag of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont would be dark blue and, in the top left corner, would be a red square with a white cross on it, a simplified variant flag of The Duchy of Savoy.

The Duchy of Savoy would retain its red flag with a white cross defaced with the letters FERT as a part of The Kingdom, The Duchy of Monferrato would retain its white flag with a thin red strip along the top, similar, The Duchy of Ferrara would retain its silver flag with a black banner on the top for when Gianmaria would inherit the independent Duchy, and finally, The Duchy of Sardinia, my newest realm, would also retain its Ducal flag, which is a red cross on a white background, defaced with four black blindfolded Moorish heads facing off to the left. All of these ducal flags would be on my royal coat of arms, however, my Kingdom's actual flag would be the simple blue, red, and white rectangular flag that I had envisioned - it would also appear in the center of my coat of arms, while Savoy would be in the upper left, Monferrato in the upper right, Ferrara in the lower left, and Sardinia in the lower right, a royal crown would be above the shield, and below the shield would be a banner with the letters FERT, as they symbolize the motto of The House di Savoia. I had everything figured out in terms of my realm, now all I had to do was put all of this into action, so I took the familiar route from me and Ippolita's bedroom to the throne room of The Palazzo di Torino - home sweet home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the most ahistorical phase of the story, but I don't necessarily mind that, as we're far from the point of departure and this is an alternate history story. Also, Sardinia-Piedmont is cool in EU4 and I wanted to reflect that in this story.


	22. The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter features another coronation scene, but it's a more proper one. We've also moved ahead to 1571 at this stage, just so you know.

Act V.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Chapter XXII.

The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont.

* * *

My coronation would take place the summer solstice - June 12th, 1571 - in Cagliari on Sardinia, I would be crowned by Patriarch Marco I Bianchi of Torino - he was the most prestigious Catholic in Sardinia-Piedmont - The Archbishop of Cagliari would be second, as he is The Primate of Sardinia - now, Marco I is merely a titular Patriarch, as The Patriarchate of Torino is no different than The Archdiocese of Torino, but the title itself still is extremely rare and therefore extremely prestigious, as even mighty France doesn't have their own Patriarchate, Portugal does, but Portugal has been crucial in expelling The Saracens from Europe - I suspect that Spain will also gain a Patriarchate sooner rather than later. In any case, Italia now had The Patriarchate of Torino in the west and The Patriarchate of Venezia in the east, and of course, The Papacy itself in Roma. I was eager for my coronation, I couldn't wait to become a Queen, however, I also wanted to ensure that my coronation ceremony would be grand and extravagant, I would invite guests from as far away as England and Scandinavia - with special attention paid to inviting a particular guest from The Kingdom of Jerusalem - and I would be crowned at The Cathedral of Cagliari before proceeding to The Castello Spagnolo - The Spanish Castle, the former residence of The Spanish Viceroy of Sardinia and Corsica in Cagliari. The Castello Spagnolo would be refurbished and expanded with Savoyard funds, as would The Palazzo di Sciamberi and a variety of other residencies throughout The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont as a display of my wealth and prestige, though I would also be sure to devote money to Churches, infrastructure, and various public works, as an extravagant palace didn't mean all that much if it was surrounded by a city that couldn't match the quality of the palace.

Torino was an excellent city, however, The Palazzo di Torino overshadowed the city, therefore, there was much more that I needed to do, I need to fill Torino with the finest examples of Late Renaissance architecture, with new facades to our buildings, with beautiful new churches, with gilded accompanying bell towers, and, all the while, encouraging more and more people to come to my new capital city, whether they be minor nobles, artisans, skilled tradesmen, or simple peasants who can be used as menial labor or by potential recruits for my army. Sciamberi was a workable capital for The Duchy of Savoy, but The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont deserved a far better capital, and Torino would serve as an excellent foundation for the worthy capital of my Kingdom, likewise, Cagliari would serve as an excellent foundation for the worthy coronation city of my Kingdom. I have gained quite a bit of land in The Treaty of Milano, however, my Kingdom was still a relatively small state, but a very rich one, given that we've effectively usurped Genoa's role as the economic powerhouse of the western Mediterranean, and soon we would annex them outright, however, in the mean time we had a lot of money, and that money would be used to grow The Sardinian and Piedmontese cities, to improve the army and allow it to punch above its weight - with every city improved, with every piece of land gained, whether it be by war or by marriage, that would only make Sardinia-Piedmont a bigger and bigger target for its enemies, therefore, we needed to make up for our lack of enthusiastic troops by making our existing soldiers as elite and battle hardened as possible, our state, both in culture and in military, would focus on quality rather than quantity. I would make up for my lack of cities compared to the likes of France or Spain by making the cities I did have as amazing as possible, I would not let the fact that my mainland possessions are bisected by The Alps or the fact that Sardinia was relatively far from Nizza and Liguria hold me back. I was still upset that I had to compromise with The French and create The Marquisate of Corsica rather than simply annexing the island, but at very least it was under my indirect control, I'm sure that I'll have the opportunity to meet The Marquis of Corsica at my coronation in Cagliari, in the meantime, I would enjoy being back in Torino after all these years.

"It feels good to be home," I said to Ippolita as we relaxed together on a couch within one of The Palazzo di Torino's lounges.

"I don't mind where we are," Ippolita came closer and hugged me "As long as I'm with you."

"I love you Ippolita," I told her as I rested my head on her shoulder, meanwhile she started brushing my hair - I liked these moments, it's been so long since Ippolita and I had any time to spend together since I was off fighting the war while she was raising the children, but now, the children were old enough that they were off with their tutors and The Treaty of Milano ended The War for Romagna, and all of this meant that I had the chance to relax with my lover on a couch. At this point, I wasn't all that interested in kissing or making love - we would still do those things, obviously, but more than that, I appreciated just being able to spend some peace and quiet time with her, I loved this intimacy. I was thirty years old, Ippolita was twenty-nine, but at this point we've been together for thirteen years and I was content just to be able to sit next to her and enjoy her warm body at my side. I do sincerely wish that I could show my love for Ippolita by marrying her or at very least producing some sort of equivalent, however, there's no homosexual marriage in The Catholic Church, nor in The Orthodox Church, nor in any of these emerging protestant heresies, nor in any other religion as far as I know, but we could make do, at very least we would be able to treat our relationship as the equivalent of a marriage - I wanted to at least. In my younger years while I was building my relationship with Ippolita, I was still lusting after Isabella, after Giulia, and after quite a few other women as well, however, year after year that lust went after, year after year my interest in sex in general has dissipated, now I just care about love and intimacy, sex has become little more than a bonus to that love and intimacy - I suppose that this is a side effect of maturity and of the stress related to having to rule a large Duchy, fight in a massive war, and now to transition that large Duchy into a proper Kingdom. After all those years away fighting The War for Romagna, I was happy enough to just come back home to spend nights back in my familiar bed with my lover at my side.

* * *

I watched from the gardens of The Palazzo di Torino as the original flags came down and the new flags came up - the dome as well as the east and west wings would be topped by the blue, red, and white flag of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, meanwhile, the two pairs of three secondary flags would be as follows: the flag of The Duchy of Sardinia on the inside, the flag of The Duchy of Savoy in the center, and on the outside would be the flags of The Duchy of Monferrato - Ferrara's flags were excluded because I did not consider The Duchy of Ferrara to be a constituent Duchy of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, which is why I intend to pass the ducal throne off to my nephew Gianmaria while The Kingdom would go to my niece Isabella. Ippolita doesn't seem to be upset over me naming Isabella after my first lover, The Jerusalemite Princess, while she did understand the decision I made in Imola, she wasn't necessarily happy about it, but I felt that it was the right choice to make, especially given that Isabelle de Valois-Anjou had already named her daughter Therese, therefore I felt that I had to return the favor when naming my niece - and if they were both girls, then I promise that the second one would have been named Ippolita, but, as luck would have it, we had a girl and we had a boy, therefore I was left with naming the boy after his grandfather with a middle name from his father. Ippolita was mad about the situation at first, however, nowadays, it was five years since I named them and she had long gotten over at, and it this point, she's happy enough just to see me back alive and safe after The War for Romagna - especially given that the war claimed the life of my brother, who was my heir at the time. I'm grateful that the twins were born, otherwise I would have needed to do whatever it takes to produce a heir, regardless of what it meant for my relationship with Ippolita, however, the twins gave me not one but two heirs to my realm, saving the main line of The House di Savoia from extinction, it's just a shame that Francesca died in the process - she shouldn't have been so close to the front, she shouldn't have spent so much time at our war camp, and it certainly didn't help that she had to digest the information about her husband's death at the same time, but that pregnancy, even with a pair of twins, should not have been so hard on her, especially given that both of the children were born one hundred percent healthy. The circumstances that got us here were far from ideal, but at very least I'm alive and well, Ippolita is alive and well, and the future of The House di Savoia is looking brighter than ever as we watch the flags of our Kingdom coming up over The Palazzo di Torino.

"Your mother would be proud," Patriarch Marco I Bianchi told me as he joined the crowd of onlookers seeing the new flags "After she had to struggle against cousins who came out of the woodwork to interfere with her succession to The Savoyard throne, few of us could imagine that she would be able to hold on to The Duchy and then have her daughter inherit and, not even two decades after ascending to the throne, to be able to forge a Kingdom? You've far exceeded expectations Teresa, and I can't wait until I can crown you as Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont."

"Thank you Patriarch, I appreciate it." I wiped away the tears that his praise brought along, my mother had to face her very own family as she attempted to establish her rule of Savoy, meanwhile, my father was cheated out of his inheritance by The Habsburgs, given that I've been able to thrive, given that I've been able to right those wrongs and correct the situation in Ferrara, it meant a lot to me, and I'm sure that Patriarch Marco I is correct, I'm sure that my mother Giovanna Vittoria II and my father Gianmaria The Pious really are proud, but this was not the end, far from it, I was only thirty-years old and I had plenty more to do in my reign, including conquering Genoa itself, but before that, I couldn't wait to go down to Cagliari for my coronation.

"No need to thank me Teresa, I wouldn't be a Patriarch without you, nor would I be able to have the rare privilege of crowning a Queen without you," Marco I replied "You've helped fund The Duomo Nuovo and countless other Churches throughout The Duchy of Savoy, and I'm sure that you'll do the same thing in Novara, in Ferrara, and in Sardinia. You've risen to power incredibly quickly and, whether you know it or not, you've left a permanent mark on the lives of countless citizens of Savoy and beyond, including mine. You can afford to be proud, you've earned it."

"That's very nice of you, Patriarch Marco," I thanked him "But I couldn't have done any of this without help, from you, from Lord Ludovico, from Lady Ippolita, from Lady Lucrezia, and from my mother, besides, most of my accomplishments have come from a war where I was only one part of a collective effort, there is so way I could have accomplished any of that without my allies."

"Sure, but to defeat the might armies of The Spanish Empire? To lead the conquest of Sardinia? To capture Vienna itself? You did that, yes you had allies and friends at your side, but you did it, so please Teresa, be proud of your flag, be proud of your Kingdom, and be proud of your accomplishments." Patriarch Marco responded, and I made a deep sigh, my most trusted ally within The Clergy would not let me be humble, he preached about how pride was one of The Seven Deadly Sins, yet here he was pressuring my to be proud - I suppose that he's not telling me to fully embrace pride, but to give myself a moment of being proud of myself, rather than looking back over and over again at my failures, at my losses, and, all the while, diminishing my accomplishments despite the fact that I couldn't wait until my coronation. I wanted to be proud and I wanted to truly become a Queen, however, all of that was drowned out by my lingering doubt - the doubt that almost drove a wedge between myself and Isabelle after our kiss all those years ago on the hill overlooking Lake Geneva, the same doubt that made me question whether I truly loved Ippolita or if I just wanted her as a replacement, the same doubt that made me question whether our alliance, despite being made up of three of the strongest Italian states and mighty France, could possibly win The War for Romagna, and the same doubt that almost shattered my confidence in leading troops after our humiliating defeat in Forli and an equally humiliating retreat all the way back to Imola. Lucrezia always told me to ignore my doubts, my doubts have proved to be wrong time and time again, and now, the head of a Titular Patriarchate of The Catholic Church was telling me to be proud - yes Pietro's death was a tragedy, yes I was hardly a capable general before being mentored by Lord Ludovico, but in the end, I've won The War for Romagna and I'm forging The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, therefore, yes, I am going to be proud when Patriarch Marco lowers that crown onto my head and proclaims me as Queen.

* * *

Ippolita and I boarded a ship in Nizza along with the twins in order to take us to Cagliari for the coronation - we were going to arrive early in order to ensure that everything was prepared for the main event, because with any luck the coronation would attract not only temporary guests but also merchants and investors that see the potential for a port on the southern end of the island in terms of trade - Cagliari was at the northern point of a small but very valuable trade triangle between Sardinia, Sicilia, and Tunis - The Tunisians may still be heathens, however, they are heathens with a much more open trading policy - perhaps too open, given that there's also quite a problem with piracy off of The Barbary coast, though The Tunisians claim that the piracy is unsanctioned, not that very many Europeans believe them, but even with piracy threats, trade with Tunis and with our Neapolitan allies in Sicily may prove critical for the development of Cagliari, and hopefully I could use the coronation as an opportunity for establishing Cagliari as a center of trade, though, in the end, the profits will end up in Torino and I will then distribute those profits as I see fit - though a considerable amount of those profits would indeed end up going to Cagliari - part would go towards developing the city itself, building new palaces, new churches, and new buildings, while another part of the money would go towards facilitating trade, both of which will hopefully result in profits as Cagliari becomes a very desirable city and a major trade center as well.

The sails were let loose and we left Nizza, passing by the island of Corsica - governed by my subject, The Marquis of Corsica thanks to French intervention, though thankfully, it was back in Italian hands - I do have to wonder though, would it not have been a better move to allow The French to give Corsica to Genoa and then annex the island outright when I inevitably invade Genoa? I suppose not, because first of all, that would establish a precedent where I would accept French demands, and second of all, having to fight in Corsica would make that war more complicated than it needed to be, I was content to simply annex the city of Genoa once tensions had calmed down after The War for Romagna and I had the opportunity to quietly dispose of the vestigial Republic while my fellow Europeans were focused on some other issue, whether it's protestants in The Holy Roman Empire, a war between Christians and The Ottomans over The Balkans, or an explosion of tensions in The Baltic Region between The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and a freshly converted Novgorod on one side, and Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Muscovy on the other side, in any case, Genoa would fall under Savoia rule sooner rather than later.

Ippolita and I watched the sun set over The Mediterranean Sea from the bow of our vessel as we reached Cagliari, reminding us both of that day the two of us watched the sunset in Albenga all those years ago before The War for Romagna, the very evening when I promised her that I would comeback from the war alive - and I did, not only alive, but stronger than ever, unfortunately, many close friends and allies cannot say the same, especially Pietro. The two of us have been together for so long and I simply couldn't wait to continue our relationship until the day we die - I don't think that I could live without Ippolita, she's been the one constant in my life in the tumultuous years since 1558, while many of my relatives have died, while many of my friends have hardly seen me due to my commitments in Sciamberi followed by the war, Ippolita has always traveled with me, even spending time at the front lines of the war during The Battle of Imola. The Italo-Grecian beauty really was the love of my life, part of me was willing to declare war against The Turk just to try and reconquer Constantinople so I can install her as The Byzantine Empress, due to her claim as a member of The House of Paleologo, even if she is merely part of The Monferrato cadet branch, but I knew that was only a fantasy, it would take a powerful alliance of determined soldiers to push The Ottomans out of Europe, such as a general uprising of Balkan Christians supported by powerful allies such as The Habsburgs, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or The Grand Duchy of Muscovy - those three are really the only ones who can stand up to The Ottomans, The Habsburgs because of the long border that Hungary shares with Ottoman Serbia requiring The Habsburgs to maintain countless fortifications and soldiers at the border, which is a big part of the reason why we were able to overrun them so successfully, because The Habsburgs simply could not afford to leave their southern border undefended. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, proclaimed as defenders of western Christianity, have traditionally seen The Ottomans as their biggest rival and the two have engaged in numerous wars, mainly having to do with Ottoman incursions into Moldavia and Bessarabia along with The Polish and Lithuanian responses, so the titanic but troubled giant that stretches from The Baltic Sea to The Black Sea is more than capable of fighting The Turk and winning. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is considered to be the defender of western Christianity, however, The Grand Duchy of Muscovy is the defender of eastern Christianity by virtue of being the strongest of the few Orthodox nations that haven't fallen under Ottoman rule, and they too can pose a massive challenge to The Turks, however, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy are at war with each other more often than either of them are at war with The Ottomans, therefore complicating the situation of eastern Europe. Therefore, the eastern half of the continent was locked in a struggle between these three giants, sure there's also minor players such as Venezia, Genoa, The Knights Hospitallier, Athens, and The Archipelago, but ultimately, eastern Europe is about The Turks, The Poles, and The Muscovites. I suppose that western Europe isn't very different, with France, England, Spain, and Austria at each others throats while everyone else is forced to play second fiddle, but at very least I would be trying to carve out a legacy for myself in western Europe, with my lover Ippolita at my side every step of the way.

As I arrived in Cagliari, I realized that the city may well prove to be essential to The House di Savoia, because, for now, I may have been able to maintain relatively good relations with my neighbors and keep France at bay, but that situation could change very quickly, therefore, Cagliari would be an excellent place for my descendants to set up shop should our mainland possessions be overrun - and from this city my descendants can plan their triumphant return to Torino, using determination, clever alliances, and shrewd timing to defeat our enemies, just as we always had - if the circumstances meant it, I would gladly ally with Austria and with Spain in order to defeat France, however, France has been my ally recently and they haven't done anything to shatter that alliance quite yet, therefore, I will ensure that neither I nor any of my successors are the ones to betray our allies in The House de Valois. I wouldn't necessarily say that war with France was inevitable, however, as long as The French Kings have ambitions on Italia and some sort of fascination with replicating the actions of Charlemagne nearly a millennia ago, then I need to constantly be prepared for the possibility of war with our western neighbor. I could understand why The French wanted control over Italia, I mean the region is incredibly wealthy and full of Renaissance art and architecture, Italian cities are world wonders, therefore, it's only natural that our neighbors would desire those cities, however, our neighbors need to learn their place and realize that we are determined to keep Italia strong and independent, with ambitions to eventually reform the region into a unified state, but for now, I was focused on helping my allies in Napoli maintaining their Kingdoms of Naples and of Sicily while also helping my allies in Milano create The Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto, but before any of that, I would be crowned Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Italia was on the verge of having three Kingdoms, and in the process of forming those Kingdoms, the famous Italian Republics of Genoa and Venezia would fall, leaving only Firenze, Lucca, and Siena - but Firenze, who has already conquered The Republic of Pisa, has clear ambitions on forming a united Tuscan monarchy out of the three realms, with The House de Medici at the helm. This would leave the trio of Kingdoms, Tuscany, and The Papal States alone in Italia, at least until I restored Ferraranese independence. It may seem like the path for Italian unification was wide open, but this would only raise further questions, as having three Kingdoms would raise questions over who would be the ones to form Italia, additionally, would these Kingdoms be absorbed into The Kingdom of Italia - a title which once existed when Italia was part of The Holy Roman Empire - or would these become constituent Kingdoms of an Italian Empire? Could there even be two Emperors at once in The Catholic world? I didn't know if there could be a Holy Roman Emperor and an Italian Emperor at the same time, but creating an Empire would be the only way to maintain the dignity of all three Kingdoms. Now, if that was resolved, we would have even more questions to tackle, for instance, what would be the capital of a united Italia? Would the capital be Roma in honor of the legacy of the true Roman Empire? Or would Roma be left under the rule of The Papacy? Should the capital be in a central location, in the location of the grandest city within Italia, or would it be the capital of the nation that formed Italia? Would Italian crusader states in Greece - The Duchy of Athens, The Duchy of The Archipelago, and The Duchy of Corfu - be incorporated in this Italian state or would they remain as completely separate entities? There were countless questions to ask when it comes to forming such a state, which is a big part of the reason why I doubt that Italia will form at any point within the next few generations, in fact, I believe that Italia will feature many steps back as we try and move forward, especially if France or any other European power decides to interfere in Italian affairs. such as many minor states wiggling out of hegemonic rule, we may see small states such as Modena and Parma becoming independent once again, we may see Naples and Sicily's personal union break apart, and perhaps we may see Firenze fail against Siena or Lucca - nothing is set in stone quite yet, but it will not be The Duchy of Savoy experiencing these unforeseen troubles, it will be The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Tensions brewing in both western Europe, eastern Europe, and The Holy Roman Empire in between, questions over the eventual fate of Italia after the rise of all of these Kingdoms, and concerns over where Sardinia-Piedmont will find its place in the world, all of this was on my mind as Ippolita and I made our first steps onto the docks of Cagliari. I couldn't answer these questions, but they were both frightening and exciting, I know that Sardinia-Piedmont's future is unclear, I know that our relations with our neighbors may change radically over the years, and I know that the general state of Europe may change radically over the next few decades, but I am excited to be the pioneer leading Sardinia-Piedmont into the future, a new horizon for the new Kingdom and a new horizon for The House di Savoia. I wasn't a perfect ruler, but I am ready to do the best job I can and plant the seeds for my successors to do even better, because I would ensure that Isabella and Gianmaria are the best rulers possible. I may have doubts and ambitions conflicting in my head at virtually every moment, but, at least for a moment, I could ignore all of that and enjoy my upcoming coronation.

* * *

I walked down the aisle of Cagliari Cathedral wearing the same blue, white, and red dress that I had found in The Palazzo di Torino while arranging my coronation, but with it, I wore a blue half-cloak with a white border - the white border had the coats of arms of my various titles sewed into it, Sardinia-Piedmont, Savoy, Sardinia, Monferrato, and Ferrara in particular, but my lesser titles such as Counties and Cantons were incorporated into the border as well. The inside of the half cloak was a beautiful shade of red to compliment this new color scheme for my new Kingdom. I glanced over to my left and my right to see guests from all over Europe here to see my coronation - though I also made sure to find some particular guests, such as my allies from The War for Romagna - I could see that King Rene III de Valois of France, Dauphin Rene, Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza, King Ferrante II di Napoli of Naples and Sicily, as well as my other allies - I saw Isabelle de Valois-Anjou, her French husband, and their daughter Therese were all in attendance - and, most importantly, I could see Ippolita and the twins sitting in the front row. I looked forward to see Patriarch Marco I of Torino as well as The Archbishop of Cagliari at the altar, waiting to crown me. I took a deep breath and finally climbed the steps onto the pulpit and joined the two clergymen. I turned around to face the audience and I kneeled down as Patriarch Marco I finally proclaimed me as The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont.

"Teresa di Savoia, Duchess of Savoy, Duchess of Sardinia, Duchess of Monferrato, Duchess of Ferrara, daughter of Duke Gianmaria I of Ferrara and Modena and Duchess Giovanna-Vittoria II of Savoy, I have been proclaimed as The Patriarch of Torino by Pope Guglielmus I, God rest his soul, therefore, I use the power entrusted in me by The Catholic Church to name you as Queen Teresa I of Sardinia-Piedmont." I felt tears of joy streaming down my face during Patriarch Marco I's proclamation, The Archbishop of Cagliari, Primate of Sardinia, handed over the coronation crown - as Sardinia-Piedmont is a new Kingdom, the coronation crown is also new, unlike the coronation crowns of both Savoy and Ferrara - and I felt the cool metal sliding down my forehead as Patriarch Marco I lowered the crown onto my head "Kind and virtuous Lady, fair and virgin Duchess, and most powerful Queen, arise and behold your new Kingdom!"

I got up to my feet as the audience erupted in thunderous applause, I thanked both The Patriarch and The Archbishop before I began the procession from The Cagliari Cathedral to The Castello Spagnolo - I think that I will create a proper palace in Cagliari, likely in the ground surrounding The Castello to create a much larger royal compound on the island, I would name it The Palazzo di Savoia and use it as one of my residencies, however, the capital will still be Torino, European royalty maintained many residencies inside and outside of their realm. My current residencies were The Palazzo di Torino, obviously, but also The Palazzo di Sciamberi, The Castello Spagnolo, and even The Savoyard Estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, but for now, The Spanish Castle in Cagliari was my destination.

I looked to my left and my right as my open carriage pulled by eight white horses took me from The Cathedral to The Castello, I could see that the people were gathered all around to see their new Queen - I saw the local Sardinians, I saw The Genoese, Venetian, and Florentine merchants who made up a significant portion of Cagliari's upper classes, local Spaniards, particularly of Aragonese and Catalan origin, and even a fairly significant Greek community, made up of both Grikos and more recent refugees from The Byzantine Empire, as well as Piedmontese Italians who have come to the city to see their Duchess finally be crowned as a Queen. The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont was shaping up to be one of the most diverse states in Italia, as in Piemonte, we have three major varieties of Italians: Piedmontese Italians, Ligurians, and now Lombards as well, we have Swiss Germans in The Cantons of Vaud and Valais, and we have significant French populations, particularly in Sciamberi and Nizza, and Sardinia has all of the groups that I mentioned earlier, on top of all that, Ferrara adds Romagnan Italians to the mix. To clarify the political situation with Ferrara and my other titles, The Duchy of Savoy and The Duchy of Monferrato make up The Principality of Piemonte, The Principality of Piemonte combined with The Duchy of Sardinia make up The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, which puts all of my titles under one banner, all except Ferrara, which is ruled in personal union with The Kingdom but will eventually be spun off into an independent entity under The House di Savoia. Royal titles were a complicated matter, but essentially, the only titles that truly mattered at this point were Sardinia-Piedmont and Ferrara, the rest of these titles had little to no remaining identity now that The Kingdom has been created.

I stood up and got off of the carriage in front of The Castello and I walked through its grand doors into its lavish throne room flanked by Sardinian Pikemen in their beautiful new blue, red, and white uniforms, these men entered the throne room and assumed the position of honor guards standing against the walls of the throne room as I sat down, fully aware that the coronation crown was still on my head. I watched as the guests of honor joined me in the throne room, first came my allies from The War for Romagna.

"Queen Teresa," King Rene III greeted, he was a very strong and very dangerous ruler, however, at least now I was legally his equal "Congratulations of the coronation, I would like to introduce you to the man that The Genoese have chosen as the candidate to become Marquis of Corsica, his name is Federico Sanseverino and he is a very wealthy man, I believe that he is the right man for the job and that he will serve you well."

"With all due respect, King Rene, I believe that I am the one who should rule Corsica, directly." I replied, letting my ally know that I was still not happy about this particular arrangement. I am sure that The Marquisate of Corsica will be brought under direct Savoyard rule eventually, but for the next few generations Corsica would be a Marquisate under The House Sanseverino who are meant to be servants of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, but we shall see how Federico's loyalty will truly play out, especially when I go to war against Genoa.

"In any case," The French King grumbled, clearly considering me petulant, because clearly his loans in Genoa are more important than Sardinia and Corsica, which have traditionally been united with each other ever since The Pope created the title of The Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica centuries ago "Here is Federico Sanseverino, your new subject."

"Greetings my Queen," he bowed "I look forward to assuming my new post as Marquis Federicu I of Corsica."

"Very well then," I replied curtly, not particularly interested as to why he decided that he needed to use a Corsican variant of his real name "You are dismissed."

Marquis Federicu left and my allies soon followed, meanwhile, across the throne room I noticed that Ippolita and Isabelle were together, the only two women who I've ever loved are now in the same room and sharing a conversation...this was going to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've had war cliffhangers, but do those really compare to romantic cliffhangers? We shall see. I hope you enjoyed!


	23. The Lady, The Princess, and The Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isabelle and Ippolita meet...how will it go?

Act V.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Chapter XXIII.

The Lady, The Princess, and The Queen.

* * *

"Hello Isabella," I kneeled down in front of my young niece, who was dressed in an elegant pink dress with white and gold trim for my coronation - she didn't have her book with her and I could tell that she felt awkward being with all these strange guests that she's never even heard of - she's very bright for a five year old but no five year old can't be expected to know every minor noble from Sardinia and Piemonte, she can't be expected to know who these foreign dignitaries were or why they were speaking to each other in strange and exotic tongues, she was just a little girl, but I knew that as her mother figure I was supposed to try and make her feel more comfortable, luckily for me, I knew that there was another little girl here who happened to be the exact same age as my niece "How are you holding up?"

"I want to go home." She objected, Isabella was way out of her comfort zone. Gianmaria had a bit of an easier time because a nobleman from Sciamberi was here and Gianmaria had apparently gotten to know his son while under Ippolita's guardianship in The Alpine town that used to be our capital, however, it seems that Isabella wasn't able to find a friend quite as quickly. I think a big part of that is that noble titles are passed on to the oldest son, therefore, courtiers are going to take their oldest son - assuming that they take any of their children to begin with - to court in order to teach those sons the political skills that they'll need when they ascend to their father's position, meanwhile, noble daughters, for the most part, were just expected to marry rich, though some do aspire to become Ladies of The Court, that usually doesn't begin until they are close to reaching maturity, all of this meant that, while Gianmaria had someone he could become friends with at Sciamberi, Isabella had no such person, not at Sciamberi, and she'll probably have a hard time finding one in Torino as well, but at very least there was someone here in Cagliari that could fill that void, if only for a few moments.

"I know, I know," I replied "But I think that there's someone here who can be your friend...do you want to meet her?"

"...Okay," Isabella agreed pensively and I grabbed her hand, taking her with me as we made our way over to Isabelle, her daughter Therese, and Ippolita, who were still locked in a conversation. I was getting a little bit better with reading the twins, both of them were pretty shy but Isabella more so than Gianmaria, Isabella preferred her books to people - now, obviously a ruler needs to be a social person, but for the time being, I was content with letting her be herself, after all she was a remarkably bright young child, reading well beyond her age and always showing an eagerness to learn, even though she was only five years old. Gianmaria also had a remarkable mind and talent for his age, but rather than reading books, he was using his mind on art, he already wanted to learn how to paint - shocking to see how much he takes after his father without even having had ever meant him.

"Hello Isabelle," I hugged my dear friend and former lover, I hadn't seen her in the flesh since that damned wagon took her away from The Savoyard Estate all those years ago, but even now, when both of us were thirty years old, I could still see the beautiful face, the brown eyes, and the wonderful body of the woman that I had fallen in love with at age fourteen, but, while hugging her, my eyes wandered over to my current lover, Ippolita, I saw her equally remarkable body, I saw the beautiful curls of her hair that I loved to lock my fingers in, and I saw something in her eyes that stung me deep in my heart - it wasn't angry, it wasn't quite jealous, instead, it was fear: fear that all the years we had shared together would crumble now that I've seen my first love, fear that she wasn't good enough for me, fear that she was just a rebound relationship after Isabelle and that she would always play second fiddle to The Jerusalemite Princess. I terminated my hug with Isabelle and backed off a few steps, shocked that even now, after all the time that we had shared together, Ippolita was still worried over whether or not I truly loved her...why? Was it the threesomes with Giulia? Was it all the years that we had spent apart during the years for Romagna? Or did she never believe that I was truly over Isabelle due to the fact that I shared letters with The Jerusalemite Princess for sixteen years? Maybe it was all of those things, maybe it was none of them, I didn't know, but what I did know is that I had to prove my commitment to The Italo-Grecian beauty, but how could I do so when I also wanted to spend time with Isabelle because my former lover is now my dear friend?

"Hello Teresa," she smiled "I haven't seen you in years! First of all, you look great, second of all, I'm so glad to see you become a Queen! The coronation is wonderful too...I'm sorry, I'm rambling...I'm just so glad to see you again!"

"I'm glad too Isabelle, and thank you, you look good too," I replied to The Jerusalemite Princess "This is Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato, I've told you all about her, and this is my niece, Isabella. Isabella, this is Princess Isabelle de Valois-Anjou, you're named after her."

"Hello," my nervous niece replied.

"Hello," Isabelle replied to the child and then introduced her daughter to myself and to my niece "This is my daughter, Therese de Valois, she's named after your aunt and she's only a few months older than you are."

"Hello!" Therese replied somewhat enthusiastically, The Jerusalemite child was enthusiastic and eager to make a new friend, this reminded me of a fourteen year old girl I had meant once who was born to near infinite privilege, but all of that privilege didn't make up for the lack of friends she had at her distant palace in a distant realm full of strange and exotic heathens. but then, on a diplomatic visit, the fourteen year old girl from The Kingdom of Jerusalem found a friend in me, and now, a generation later, hopefully our namesakes will find friends in each other.

"Why don't the two of you go and play in the courtyard? You don't want to be in here with all these old people, do you?" Ippolita proposed, she was much better at assuming a motherly role with the children than I was.

"Okay!" Therese proposed energetically.

"Alright," Isabella was more composed, but I was getting to know her a little bit better and I could see the excitement in her eyes, she was eager to meet a new friend, even if she was too shy to let it show just yet.

Isabelle, Ippolita, and I watched as the two five year old girls ran off to the courtyard outside of The Castello Spagnolo, when we had the chance, the three of us slipped out of the ceremonies in the throne room and climbed the steps onto the second floor of the building, we walked through the halls and found our way to a balcony overlooking the courtyard and we silently watched the two young girls playing in the courtyard. For the first time ever, Ippolita, Isabelle, and I were all in the same place at the same time, after years of telling them about each other - I told Ippolita about Isabelle in person, all the while I wrote to Isabelle telling her all about Ippolita - they had finally seen each other face to face. Neither of them wanted to show it, but I knew both of them well enough that I could see that they were sizing each other up, the two of them were like lionesses, but both of them wanted to dismiss their counterpart as easy prey, both of them wanted to see what I saw in the other, both of them were passionate enough to believe that I belonged with them, however, both of them were also too insecure to believe that I would end up choosing her over the other one. I was hoping that neither of them would force me to choose between them, because first of all, I was perfectly content with the current arrangement where I was with Ippolita but I was in a correspondence with Isabelle as friends, and second of all, I had no idea who I would choose in the end, I know that I should choose Ippolita in a heartbeat, because I sincerely love her and I'm with her now, but I didn't want to break Isabelle's heart because she was my first lover, and even though we had a short and probably misguided fling, I wouldn't be who I am now without Isabelle. If I was younger and more perverted, perhaps I would try to resolve this by giving both of them what they wanted for a night and getting the perfect outcome for myself at the same time, but now, things have changed so much, I could tell that The War for Romagna had left a scar on my relationship with Ippolita, we had been separated for years as I blossomed into a competent general and she blossomed into a substitute mother, not to mention Ippolita having to deal with the news of Isabelle naming her daughter after me and me returning the favor. I thought that everything between myself and Isabelle was in the past, but between the naming controversy and my current feelings as I see my two lovers finally meet, I honestly don't know anymore. All I know is that I'm dealing with two fragile hearts and I didn't want to break either of them, however I feel that in the process, I may end up breaking both of their hearts.

I looked over to the courtyard as the three of us shared a rather tense silence, seeing the two girls enjoying themselves together, using an old castle as a playground and laughing in their girlish voices, I couldn't help but think of a pair of fourteen year olds journeying up to a Swiss castle and playing like little children in the abandoned castle of Romainmotier near the shores of Lake Geneva. Circumstances kept myself and Isabelle apart, I love Ippolita now but I can't say for sure if we'd have ever gotten together if Isabelle hadn't been taken back to Jerusalem by that damned wagon, but now, maybe our respective heirs can have the relationship that Isabelle and I should have had, not necessarily as lovers, but perhaps at very least they could have a physical friendship, actually meeting with each other face-to-face more commonly than two times with a sixteen year gap in between - more years have passed since my relationship with Isabelle than years I had been alive before meeting her - but I wasn't sure, as the lack of a male heir means that The Kingdom of Jerusalem will pass to Isabelle when her father dies, and after that, to Therese, assuming that Isabelle doesn't have any more children - I'm not sure if she ever will, given her complete aloofness towards her husband's present whereabouts or any affairs that The French Prince may have - speaking of, given that Isabelle is married to a son of King Rene III, the brother of Dauphin Rene, Therese has a small chance of also becoming The Queen of France - my namesake may become the most powerful woman in Europe, however, it's still not entirely clear if she suffers from any consequences of her parents being second cousins.

Inbreeding was unfortunately a fairly common practice among European nobility, particularly when it comes to keeping lands in the hands of a particular House - The Habsburgs were particularly infamous for incestuous marriages, meanwhile, The Borgias were accused of incest as well, though this has nothing to do with marriage, this is an insult to The House of Borgia, who were widely known for their wealth and for their debauchery. The Borgia Popes and their eccentric lifestyles during the turn of the century stained the reputation of The Papal States and of the religious office itself, this reputation continues to haunt them as The Borgia gave up on actually controlling The Papacy and decided to ally with them instead as Kings of Spain. Isabelle's marriage is an opportunistic marriage by The French, Rene III would be delighted to see France, Navarre, and Jerusalem joined in a personal union under a member of The House de Valois, Isabelle's husband and their daughter Therese are members of The House de Valois while Isabelle is a member of The Angevine cadet branch, but being a member of a cadet branch doesn't change the fact that Isabelle and her husband are related, therefore, I fear for Therese's future as she has double the chance of becoming a victim of the very worst traits of The House de Valois, which are numerous due to cases of inbreeding dating as far back as the days of The Capetian Dynasty. I'm sure that there has been inbreeding within The House di Savoia as well, especially due to a number of marriages between The Dukes of Savoy and the daughters of The Dukes of Monferrato, eventually culminating in Monferrato being integrated into Savoy, however, The House di Savoia is small enough that we cannot inbreed directly, nor would we want to given that The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piemonte is the only current possession of my dynasty.

"I'm glad that Therese has someone to play with," Isabelle finally broke the silence "After all these years, The Palace in Jerusalem is still a dreadfully lonely place, trapped in a Crusader fortress surrounded by foreigners and heathens with a father that never loved me the way he would have loved a male heir and a disloyal husband that constantly demeans my future Kingdom, always explaining how each and every aspect of life is better in France, but it's not so bad, because at very least I can look forward to your letters Teresa."

"Isabella is having a hard time adjusting to Torino," Ippolita jumped in, changing the subject from the letters and back to the children "She's a bright child but also shy, she's not used to all of the heightened activity related to the coronation. I hope that as things calm down and we're back in Torino, she can adjust to normal levels of life. Gianmaria's had a bit of an easier time, he's shy too but once you get him to open up he'll adjust quickly, he's already stumbled across one of his old friends from Sciamberi."

"Do the children know...?" Isabelle asked, referring to our relationship.

"I don't know," I replied "I think they're too young to understand and obviously we have to keep our relationship a secret - at least from those who I can't quite trust to keep the information private - but I'm sure that they'll pick up on the fact that Ippolita and I are acting as their mothers and eventually put two and two together, but who knows when exactly that will happen."

"Alright then," Isabelle replied and the awkward silence once again consumed the three of us, all the while we watched Isabella and Therese running around the courtyard and playing together, both of them were a little too young to realize why they were named after the other's mother-figure, both of them were too young to realize why this event was so significant to Isabelle and I, which is also the reason that Ippolita feels so hurt about this. I wish that I could resolve this situation somehow, but I had no idea what I should do or how I would end up with an outcome that's desirable to all three of us - where Ippolita and I could continue our relationship as it was, maintaining the status quo on that front, meanwhile Isabelle and I would finally end up with some closure and both of us would leave Cagliari without broken hearts.

"How long should we let them play?" I asked my two companions, hoping to finally break the silence despite just having had watched as Isabelle had failed in trying to do the exact same thing a few short moments ago.

"The sun's still up and they're having fun, why should we put an end to it?" Ippolita asked.

"Ippolita," Isabelle suddenly addressed my lover, I looked back and forth between the two of them, I had no idea what was about to happen, I didn't know if Isabelle was going to apologize because, for some reason, The Jerusalemite Princess feels like she has disrupted our relationship, if she wanted to address the tension radiating off of the two of them, or if she simply wanted to continue the conversation that they were having in the throne room before I arrived with Isabella at my side in order to bring the two girls together "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Ippolita responded, she wasn't sure what Isabelle was going to ask either.

"Can Teresa and I have a moment to talk...in private?" Isabelle asked and yet another silence fell over us, I felt Ippolita glance over at me, but I didn't have the courage to meet her glance, I had no idea what the right thing to do in this situation should be.

"Oh, I guess that's fine," Ippolita eventually replied and left the balcony, walking down the steps on the first floor. The sound of Ippolita's feet as she made her way down the stairs reminded me of the last time that Isabelle and I shared a balcony together, even if the circumstances were radically different, but for some reason, both times I felt that what Isabelle and I did in private would get me in trouble.

(sabelle and I stood together in private as we watched Ippolita exit to the courtyard and watch the children more directly, going down there in order to make sure that Isabella and Therese weren't hungry, thirsty, or injured. Ippolita was once again proving that she's a better mother figure than I am, but I think that, at very least, I'm making some progress because I arranged this whole playdate between the two little girls to begin with. As Ippolita finally reigned in the little girls and kneeled down to talk to the two of them, Isabelle and I finally faced each other, sharing a moment for the first time alone ever since that damned carriage took her away from The Savoyard Estate all of those years ago, but finally, here we were in Cagliari sharing a private balcony of The Castello Spagnolo, wishing to finally resolve the loose ends left behind from our brief fling when we were both fourteen. So much has changed ever since Isabelle and I were separated, with The Jerusalemite Princess being forced into an incestuous marriage and having to have sex and eventually give birth despite being a lesbian, meanwhile, I had managed to avoid that particular fate and instead spent my time ruling The Duchy of Savoy and, as a result of The War for Romagna, I created The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and all the while, I had spent those years building up a relationship with Ippolita, a relationship that was now in jeopardy because of Isabelle's arrival here in Cagliari, I shouldn't let anything more develop between Isabelle and I, I knew that, Ippolita knew that, and Isabelle knew that, however, none of us knew what exactly I would end up doing when backed into this particular romantic corner.

"I missed you so much Teresa," Isabelle began "All those years alone in Jerusalem were complete torture, every time you sent a letter, I got happy because it was the only thing that reminded me of the love we shared on the shores of Lake Geneva. I read every word of your letters over and over and over again, constantly hoping that I would stumble on the smallest hint, even just a miniscule hint, that there was a chance that our relationship could somehow continue, but I knew that from the very beginning when we were separated our relationship was doomed, Jerusalem and Savoy were simply too far away and our positions made us far too occupied to devote time to each other, but despite all this, despite every good point you raised, despite the fact that when you started writing to me about Ippolita, I knew that it was over, despite all of that, when I read your letter about our relationship, it broke my heart."

"It was hard on me too Isabelle, I struggled day after day for two and a half years with extreme loneliness between when you were taken away and when I finally got to meet Ippolita, every day I tried to find someone who could fill the void that you left in my heart, but it was all useless, all until I meant Ippolita. Ippolita was a gamechanger for me, Isabelle, I met her when I was sixteen and I still want to be with her now, even though I'm now thirty, so much has changed in these last few years and I don't think that I could cope with it without Ippolita at my side. I know that I broke your heart, but please, don't be mad at Ippolita, because Ippolita is the one who makes me happy now - if you need to be mad at anyone, be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at anyone Teresa," Isabelle replied "Far from it, I understand why you moved on, if I could have, I would have moved on as well, but I had no luck, therefore, all I want to do is to tell you how lucky you are. I love what we had and I still love you, but we were never meant to be and you've already broken my heart, but it's not too late to avoid breaking Ippolita's heart. She's a wonderful woman Ippolita, and you're right, she does make you happy, so let yourself be happy, be happy with her - in fact, I'll be happy that you're happy - she's perfect for you Teresa. I promise you that Ippolita is the right woman for you, so please, forget all about me, and if you can't do that, then at least remember that I approve of your choice.

"Isabelle...I don't want to forget about you..." I began to cry, I know that Isabelle was telling me to do the right thing, I know that she sees everything we had together as something that belongs in the past and has been spoiled by all the time we had spent apart, I know that Isabelle was trying to sacrifice her love life for the love life that Ippolita and I share now.

"Teresa, don't let yourself forget Ippolita by trying to remember me." Isabelle replied, silencing me, and she walked off of the balcony to attend to her child, leaving me all alone to ponder what she told me. On one hand, this was perfect because it finally resolved the love triangle, however, on the other hand this was hardly the perfect outcome because Isabelle is left with a broken heart, however, I suspect that this was going to be the outcome no matter what happened, as Isabelle and Therese would need to return to The Kingdom of Jerusalem anyway while Ippolita and I had to stay here and attend to The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. I knew that, despite everything that's happened ever since our first relationship fell apart, despite the fact that both of us are now fully grown adults, and despite the fact that now, I'm my own Queen and no one is left to boss me around, the circumstances haven't really changed at all, anything that happened between myself and Isabelle was doomed to fail, she had decided to take the heart break and move on, I thought that I had decided to end everything with Isabelle as well, I thought that it happened years ago when I tried to dismiss my relationship with The Jerusalemite Princess as a mere fling to justify my unfaithfulness in pursuing The Italo-Grecian beauty when the young courtier arrived at The Palazzo di Torino. I watched as Isabelle walked out into the courtyard and switched places with Ippolita, I watched as The Jerusalemite Princess passed the torch onto The Italo-Grecian beauty, I realized two things at that moment, one: this was the right outcome, my relationship with Ippolita had developed into a perfectly stable state of pseudo-marriage that would provide the perfect childhood for the twins, and two: I loved both of them, all those times that I tried to dismiss my love for Isabelle and our relationship as a mere fling, I was lying to myself, but I loved Ippolita too, she was beautiful, she was incredibly intelligent, and she was dependable - she was my rock, she was the constant in my life, and she was the person that I needed at my side as I embrace a whole new era as The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont. I let the tears stream down my face as I heard the sound of familiar steps coming up the stairs to the second floor of The Castello Spagnolo, I knew exactly who it was.

"What's wrong Teresa?" Ippolita asked, coming over and hugging me, providing me with her shoulder to cry on. I felt the familiar warmth of her hand brushing my hair, and I felt the heat of her sun-kissed skin burn my tears away.

"Nothing's wrong Ippolita, everything is perfect as long as I'm with you," I raised my head from her shoulder, wiped away the last of my tears, and smiled at the love of my life "I love you Ippolita, I love you more than my Palace, than my Kingdom, than the whole damned world, please never forget that. Never let yourself feel unworthy of me, never let Isabelle, Giulia, or anyone else interfere with our relationship, I'm the one who's unworthy of you. I don't care that I'm a Queen and your a lady, I don't care what my House has compared to your House, I don't care about any so-called nobility. I was a lustful idiot when I met you, when I was falling in love with you my stupid self let a naked handmaiden pin me against the wall and later I invited her into our bed, I know now that I should have dismissed Giulia then and there, my stupid self had to be convinced by Lucrezia and Cristina that I loved you, and my stupid self was almost ready to throw it all away for a fling with a Princess who is going away in a day regardless of what happens between us, I know now that I'm lucky that Isabelle told me to let myself break her heart - she gave me her blessing to pursue you. I realize that my letters to Isabelle hurt you, I also realize that I still love her, but more than that, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Ippolita, I know that after all of these years, my word shouldn't be worth all that much, but I promise you that my relationship with Isabelle is over, I promise you that our threesomes with Giulia are over, and I promise you that I will be faithful. Once again, I apologize for each and every time I've hurt you and I hope with all of my heart that you'll forgive me for being such a damned fool."

"You're not a fool Teresa, you're a beautiful, smart young woman who I absolutely adore, if you were a fool you would have run off with Giulia or with Isabelle, I know that despite everything that's happened between us, in the end, you'll always come back to me. You ended your relationship with Isabelle for me, despite the fact that you did and still do love her, you survived The War for Romagna for me, and you let go of Isabelle once and for all for me, I know that, at the end of the day, your heart has always been in the right place. There's been bumps along the way, sure, but that's the state of every relationship, I'm just glad to be here with you right now, because you're the love of my life too Teresa, you've created The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and I can't wait to see what comes next, because we'll be going through this together, I know that maintaining and expanding The Kingdom won't be easy, but nothing every is, but with the two of us, working side by side, nothing can stop us. You have hurt me in the past, but I love you now and I've always loved you, because Teresa, I feel the exact same way about you, everything is perfect as long as I'm with you." Ippolita revealed and I took the coronation crown off of my head, and put it on her head before I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a long and passionate kiss, I felt tears flowing down my face and tears flowing down her face, but none of that mattered because the two of us were sharing an amazing kiss, a kiss that trumped the kiss on the hill overlooking the sun setting over Lake Geneva, a kiss that trumped the kiss I gave Isabelle before she left The Savoyard Estate, a kiss that trumped my first kiss with Ippolita in the square near The Colonna di Torino. Ippolita and I broke apart and faced outwards to the setting sun as Isabelle and Therese left the courtyard and headed to the rooms in The Castello Spagnolo were they would stay for the night, meanwhile, Isabella climbed the steps to the second floor and walked out to the balcony, I pulled her in front of us and rested my left hand on her right shoulder while Ippolita rested on right hand on the child's left shoulder, here we were, The Sardinian royal family, facing the sunset over the city of Cagliari.

* * *

The next day Ippolita and I were walking through Cagliari with a small escort, we were walking along coastline towards the port in order to see some of the departing guests one last time, including Isabelle and Therese. The escort was dressed in the new dark blue, red, and white uniforms of The Sardinian Army, the uniforms were part of our military modernization - The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Monferrato had faired very well in The War for Romagna however, we cannot remain stagnant and we must outfit new soldiers from Sardinia and Ferrara as well, therefore, I was pushing for a full army reorganization, ensuring that The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont would be the most modern and well equipped army in Italia, we were hoping to maintain our quality over quantity approach even though our army was growing larger as a result of our new acquisitions. The entire state was experiencing growth and transformation as a result of The War, I was modernizing the army, I was funding the infrastructure and trade throughout my realm, and all the while, I was concentrating power in Torino. I didn't have a short memory, I remembered that a group of nobles rose up against me at the beginning of my reign with support from Pope Guglielmus I, all the while I was entirely aware that many, many more nobles were presented with the same offer and they refused not our of honor, but out of knowing that the rebellion would be crushed rather easily by The Armata di Savoia, because of this, I would ensure that the institutions of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont would leave the nobility with much less power than they had in The Duchy of Savoy or under Spanish rule in the case of The Sardinians.

Ippolita and I walked down onto the port as we watched Isabelle and Therese boarding a Jerusalemite ship that would take her back to The Holy Land, I watched as The Princess turned around and saw the two of us on the pier. The Jerusalemite Princess blew a kiss at me before waving goodbye, I blew her a kiss as well before I waved at her, we watched as The Jerusalemite ship left the port and headed for the other end of The Mediterranean Sea. Isabelle was taken away from me once again, however, this time, I finally had closure, because Isabelle and I had finally brought an end to the lingering remains of our relationship, allowing me to live my life with Ippolita instead, both of us finally having the chance to move on. The Jerusalemite Princess was taken away from me once more, but there were no tears this time, instead, I merely turned to Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato and gave her a hug, the romantic loose end that had held our relationship back for so long was finally resolved, now, the two of us were free to live out our lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted this chapter to be about closure, resolving the love triangle and leaving Ippolita and Teresa together.


	24. The Queen's Marriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I would write this chapter this way if I were to redo the story. I wanted a happy and optimistic ending, but, in the process, I feel like I sacrificed the Patriarch's agency and religion, just having him go along with what Teresa and Ippolita want. I've written a lesbian marriage in my newer FFN story, Legacy of The Romans, but in that story, I made it more of a secret only they knew, no religious figures involved. I feel like that's probably the more realistic way of portraying this, but this is what I wrote in early 2019. If you like the scene, great, I'm grateful, if not, well, I don't blame you either.

Act V.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Chapter XXIV.

The Queen's Marriage.

* * *

Ippolita and I returned to Torino with the twins after my coronation. The events in Cagliari had been very eventful, I had become The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont, I had gotten to meet The Marquis of Corsica, albeit briefly, and I seem to have finally untangled the mess that had been my romantic life and Isabelle had allowed herself to be cut loose, leaving Ippolita and I free to pursue the rest of our lives - I felt bad for Isabelle, she has to deal with raising a daughter while in a loveless marriage with an unfaithful husband in a distant land full of heathens and foreigners, all without a lover, I wish that the circumstances were different but obviously, as a Queen, I can't abandon my realm, but Ippolita is a local Lady, her estate is on the outskirts of Torino and under the stewardship of her overseers, that means that Ippolita and I can be together, and given that she has been the guardian of the twins for so long, we should be together - I hate that Isabelle is being left out, but there's no reason why both of us should be unhappy. Ippolita and I should be able to be very happy together for the foreseeable future given that The War for Romagna was over, The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont was established, and my coronation ceremony was over with, therefore, the two of us should be able to experience the rest of the summer of 1571 in peace and quiet, at very least I hope so, for all I know, The Holy Roman Empire is about to tear itself apart with protestant uprisings while England decides to strike at a war exhausted France fresh out of an expensive campaign against The Spanish - Europe was certainly a powder keg at the moment between the rise of protestantism in Germania, rapidly building tensions between the powers of eastern and northern Europe, and the west recovering from The War for Romagna and learning what the implications of that war will be.

In Italia, the implications were already clear, the foreign powers have been expelled from Italia, at least for the moment, allowing for the formation of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, Naples solidifying its independence from Spain and allowing The Neapolitan Kingdom to make a name for itself as a major trade and naval power in The Mediterranean Sea, building upon the wealth accumulated in Napoli thanks to The Renaissance. The Duchy of Milan has expanded into Romagna and Filippo Maria II makes no secret of his desire to attack The Venetians and form a Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto, ending The wars for Lombardy once and for all by pushing The Venetians off of the continent and out of Venezia itself - Filippo Maria II wanted to accomplish something that The Germanic Lombards, The Franks, The Byzantines, and The Holy Roman Empire could never accomplish: wiping out The Repubblica Serenissima once and for all. The Milanese Duke had lofty ambitions, as did I, therefore, I was fully prepared to support him in his wars against The Republic, especially because of my ambitions to conquer Genoa in the same manner, between Nizza, Sassari and Cagliari on Sardinia, and soon enough, Genoa itself, this conquest would give me control over trade in the western Mediterranean, The Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto would be able to replicate Venezia's control over The Adriatic Sea, The Neapolitans would compete with The Tunisians and The Barbary pirates over control for the southern Mediterranean, and The Jerusalemites, Athenians, Ionians, Naxians, Turks, and Egyptian Mamluks would compete with each other over control of the eastern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean may become a powder keg as well between the established powers of The Ottomans and The Mamluks and emerging powers in Italia and Greece due to Venezia and Spain, who dominated The Mediterranean not that long ago, losing their influence over the region and leaving a very lucrative power vacuum.

The future was exciting and I couldn't wait to do my part in influencing it, however, I was a young ruler and my realm was exhausted from war, therefore, there was no reason to rush into another conflict, I would take my time and enjoy peace before I could seize Genoa and help my Milanese allies in their upcoming war against Venezia, though they needed time to plan as well, and they may decide to attack The Swiss first, either way, both myself and my Milanese land had plenty of land to incorporate and plenty of institutions to extend over onto those new provinces, that would come before any more conquests, because not only did we need to recover from the war, we needed to make sure that we wouldn't be overextended, because overextension is a breeding ground for political inefficiency and corruption, the downfall of countless civilizations in Italia. All in all, the future for The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont will be difficult and turbulent as we struggle to maintain a wealthy and powerful state in an everchanging world full of increasingly stronger powers encroaching on us from all sides, I am confidant that The Kingdom can survive and prosper, carving out a piece for itself in Italia, and, if we can make the right moves at the right time, with a little bit of luck, The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont may be the one to form a unified Italian state.

I may have become Queen but that's only elevated my ambitions, now I have ambitions worthy of my Kingdom - including trade supremacy over the western Mediterranean, political domination over Italia, and eventually, to bring The Kingdoms, Duchies, Republics, and The Papal States together in order to form an Italian state strong enough to hold itself among the great powers of western Europe - I was ambitious, energetic, and it seems that I'm free of romantic baggage allowing me to focus on my realm, but before all that, I needed to sit down and spend some time with the twins and my lover.

* * *

Ippolita and I lounged around our room in The Palazzo di Torino later that afternoon, we weren't tired nor going to bed quite yet, given that it's the summer of 1571 and the sun is still up, we were just enjoying the peace and quiet. Our room was quite large, there was a wide and lavish bed with four posts supporting a ceiling, and curtains al around that the two of us shared, the walls of the room were elegant, they were white with decorative pilasters, these walls included red and gold trim - I think that I'll add some blue trim as well in honor of the colors of my new Kingdom - Ippolita and I both had our private closets and there was a square bath for us in the corner, one section of the wall opposite of the bath was decorated with the display of The flag of The Duchy of Savoy crossed with The flag of The Duchy of Monferrato, the same display that I had in my room at The Savoyard Estate, therefore, I had to add The flag of The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, The flag of The Duchy of Sardinia, and The flag of The Duchy of Ferrara, I had to modify the display to reflect my recent accomplishments. Ippolita and I also possessed a large mirror which was still a luxury item, opposite of that, I had the painting of my coat of arms that Pietro made, the painting would serve as a sort of private memorial for him, and next to that painting on top of my dresser were the various dress crowns that I've worn over the years, all to remember the various different eras of my rule over The Duchy of Savoy and now The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. There was a fairly wide open space between the bed and the door, Ippolita was standing there as she changed into a different dress.

I watched as Ippolita finished putting on her pink and white dress, I got up in my cyan, dark blue, and red dress and joined her, I helped her finish up putting on her dress and then I put one arm around her waist and with my other hand I locked hands with her. I began humming along a popular Piedmontese ballroom song and the two of us began dancing around the open space within our bedroom, Ippolita quickly figured out which song I was humming and she joined in, she quickly figured out what dance I was dancing and her feet were soon echoing mine as the two of us shared a slow, relaxed, and romantic dance with each other, not particularly concerned over how much time we spend, we just wanted to enjoy each other. I felt Ippolita rest her head on my shoulder as we continue, becoming more and more intimate with each other - I was now absolutely sure that I loved Ippolita more than I loved Isabelle, I did love The Jerusalemite Princess, but at the end of the day, I have to admit that our relationship was more about lust than about love - I don't know if I would necessarily share a slow dance with Isabelle if it didn't end with us pressed together and making out before one of us was pushed against the bed by the other one, meanwhile, with Ippolita, I enjoyed intimacy just for the sake of intimacy, Ippolita was incredibly beautiful and I loved it when we did have sex, however, I love it just as much when the two of us are cuddled up together in bed rather than being physically engaged with each other.

"Hey Teresa," Ippolita said, getting my attention but not moving her head from its spot on my shoulder.

"Yes Ippolita?" I asked as we continued dance with each other.

"Can I put my shoes on now?" she asked, I broke contact with her briefly and I looked down to see that she was still barefoot, I looked over to where we had begun our dance and I saw that Ippolita had her stockings and shoes laid out so that she could put them on. Sheepishly, I disconnected from my lover and allowed her to finish getting ready.

"I liked the dance..." I said sheepishly as I sat down on the bed.

"I liked it too, but the floor is cold," she laughed, I joined in, it may have been summer but we were inside a large building designed with many layers of royal Renaissance fashion in mind, therefore, even in the summer, the design of the building meant that the floors could still get fairly cold. Our dance may have been interrupted, however, the dance was one of many small cute moments between myself and Ippolita as we enjoyed our time together in The Palazzo di Torino now that the weight of the drama of my past relationship with Isabelle was finally off of our shoulders, allowing our relationship to develop on its own rather than constantly being burdened by doubts and baggage from the past.

* * *

I sat in on one of Isabella and Gianmaria's lessons with their tutor. I watched as Isabella diligently listened in on the lesson, they were beginning to learn French, which would be useful for the twins are French is the most common minority language in The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont as well as the language that's slowly but surely replacing Latin as the language of international diplomacy. Isabella was attentive, diligent, and fiercely intelligent for her age, however, Gianmaria would doodle on his paper while his sister was writing out notes - interestingly enough, I noticed that Isabella was left-handed, like I was, while Gianmaria was right-handed, like Pietro was - however, Gianmaria was also more prone to physical activities than his sister, as whenever he wasn't observing the local artists he was observing the local soldiers - I could tell already that Gianmaria would want to lead troops and create paintings...the apple does not fall far from the tree after all, but Isabella was more interested in studies and in observing the court. Isabella was too shy to actually say or do anything while observing the courtiers and my staff, however, I could tell that she was very interested - obviously she was too young to understand much of what was going on, but I could see that everything that she didn't know, she wanted to learn. Isabella and Gianmaria both had traits of ideal Renaissance monarchs, however, if they could both rub off on each other and infect each other with at very least a passing interest in the other skills, then these twins can both become better rulers, for instance, Gianmaria could definitely use Isabella's brain, and Isabella would likely need Gianmaria's burgeoning interest in war.

I hope that after conquering Genoa later in my reign The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont may enter a long era of peace, however, I could never be sure, as I've mentioned time and time again, Europe is an avalanche just waiting to happen between heretics, Ottomans, Scandinavians, Russians, Poles, and the usual game of chess between the great powers of western Europe as each of them attempts to establish supremacy for the others, and here we are, a young Kingdom sitting on the crossroads of Italia, France, and The Holy Roman Empire, meaning that it's certainly possible that my Kingdom may one day become one of the largest battlegrounds in history as armies grow ever larger and ever more modern. I want peace for my realm, but I cannot possibly predict the future with absolute accuracy, therefore, it's better that my heir is prepared for the possibility of war without ever having to use those skills than to need those skills and not possess them - however, there's still plenty of time to mold Isabella into a proper Queen, for now, I'm just happy that she's as brilliant as she is.

"Aunt Teresa," Isabella came to me after her lesson was complete, meanwhile, Gianmaria scampered off, I couldn't say whether it was to watch the artists or the soldiers, but either way, I knew that he was going to go to one of the two and I was sure that he was going to imitate whatever he saw, meanwhile, I was much more interested in the fact that my niece was finally approaching me on her own terms "I wanted to ask you something, but I don't know if I can."

"Oh Isabella, of course you can ask me a question, you're my niece, I love you." I smiled and kneeled down to be on her level...I think I'm getting a little bit better at this whole parenting thing "What did you want to ask me?"

"If you're my aunt, then who is my uncle?" Isabella asked, I had a feeling that this question was coming sooner rather than later, Isabella is a bright child and she's obviously been taught the social norms of our Catholic and Italian world, so she surely noticed that I don't have a husband nor children despite being thirty, an age in which most royals are already married and are likely to already have several children. I was going to answer Isabella's question, however I was going to answer it in such a way which avoided mentioning my sexuality or my relationship with Ippolita - the child must have known that there was something going on between myself and her guardian, however, she was still very young and she didn't need to know the reality of that relationship quite yet. Isabella and Gianmaria would hear the whole truth eventually, but I don't think that today's the day for that, not quite yet.

"Well Isabella," I silently made a signal to the tutor to leave the room while I talked to my niece, she obeyed and gave us much needed privacy "I'm The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont, and because I'm a Queen, I need to run my realm and ensure that a member of The House di Savoia inherits a strong and healthy Kingdom, and right now, you are that heir."

"I'm going to rule The Kingdom?" Isabella asked, I realized that at no point have I told her that she is my heir and she will become The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont while her brother will become The Duke of Ferrara.

"Yes Isabella, and your brother is going to rule Ferrara!" I revealed before continuing "But, if I was going to marry, I would have to marry a husband from a different dynasty because our House only has one realm and it's not right to marry family members anyway, that would mean that my children would not be members of The House di Savoia and you would not inherit, you don't want that, do you?"

"No!" Isabella proclaimed with childish greed, I chuckled briefly. Now, I could arrange a matrilineal marriage rather easily and continue the dynastic line - in fact that's what I expect Isabella to do when she grows older, however, she didn't need to know that quite yet, all she needed to know was that I didn't want to get married and if I did get married and had children, then it would negatively affect her. Actually, I suppose that it may not negatively affect her, because I created The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and that means that I could create the succession laws, so theoretically, I could make the law of succession be something radical like enatic seniority, where the oldest dynastic woman is the one to inherit, however, that would make me many enemies and it would not sit well with The Pope, especially given that Constantinus II already holds a grudge against me for my part in The War for Romagna, so I would stick with cognatic primogeniture, the same succession law as The Duchy of Savoy, where the oldest child inherits regardless of gender. In many ways, what I was telling Isabella was far from the truth, however, it was not outright lying either, which is the best scenario given the circumstances.

"Do you understand now?" I asked, not sure where else a conversation with a child about royal inheritance could go but I felt that it would be cold if I just left my niece hanging, leaving the room like that. I wanted to be a good parent for the twins, I know that I'm just their aunt and I know that I've spent almost the entirety of their lives away fighting The War for Romagna, however, Ippolita and I were still the ones who had to take up the burden of raising them. I needed to be a good parent, Ippolita needed to be a good parent, and we needed to cooperate with each other in order to be the best set of parents for Gianmaria and Isabella that we can be - I would be lying if I said that I thought it was going to be easy, but I know that if I could beat The Papal States, The Kingdom of Spain, and The Archduchy of Austria as well as a handful of minor powers in a war that took a long and brutal six years in order to win, even with the might of France on our side - if I could do that herculean task, then I could raise two children...at least I hope so.

"Yes but...what about Ippolita?" Isabella asked, I froze up, I thought that this topic was avoidable, I thought that I managed to use half-truths to get away from having to actually tell Isabella about our relationship. I sighed, unfortunately, everything that I said about Isabella was true - she was a very bright child and she liked to eavesdrop on events in court - I know that Ippolita and I weren't hiding our tracks particularly well, I know that ever since we've come back from The War for Romagna the two of us have been sloppy about hiding our kisses and small romantic gestures - I know that we had to keep our relationship a secret, but it's been years since I've been able to consistently spend time with Ippolita, especially between all these major events such as signing The Treaty of Milano, moving the court from The Palazzo di Sciamberi to The Palazzo di Torino, and the coronation event in Cagliari - all of this meant that I was desperate to spend time with my lover, even if it is just small and somewhat awkward moments such as that little dance that Ippolita and I shared in our bedroom. I also had to make up for lost time with the twins and try and do my best in raising them, however, I wasn't sure what the right thing to do was in this situation - I didn't know if I should be honest with Isabella and give her the full truth, but risk giving her a homonormative perspective on a heteronormative world, something that would not be pleasing to The Catholic Church nor to The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont given that Isabella is supposed to continue on the succession for the realm. The other option was to lie to the child but ensure that she grows up with an accurate view of the world - I loved Ippolita and I knew that, in reality, our relationship is not bad, homosexuality is not hurting anyone, however, the perception of homosexuality around the world in 1571 is negative and I can't afford to let Isabella hurt her own reputation by unknowingly making a remark in support of homosexuality. I had no idea what the right thing to do was, but I knew that I needed to think and in order to think I needed to stall for time, therefore, it was time to play dumb with a five year old girl.

"What about Ippolita?" I asked, both stalling for time and trying to figure out what exactly the child knows - if she knows that we've kissed, I may be able to play that off as just us being close and affectionate friends, but if she knows that Ippolita and I share a room...then that will be significantly harder for me to explain my way out of. It also doesn't help that I still don't know exactly what Ippolita has told the twins about our relationship, I assume that she hasn't revealed anything too sensitive quite yet, but I cannot be sure.

"Don't you love her?" Isabella asked me, I sighed, she already knew too much and if she was revealing this, then that means that I've managed to form some sort of connection with her, I've finally made progress with getting my niece to like me, so if I lie to her now, everything I've worked to establish with her will be undone - I won't be able to form a connection with a child smart enough to know that I'm lying to her about something that shouldn't even be a secret - I wish things were different, believe me, everyday I wish that I could openly show love and affection to my lover, the woman who I wish to live and die with.

"Isabella, can you keep a secret?" I asked her, preparing to tell her.

"Of course!" she replied, she was just a kid but I could see that she wanted to be certain that she would keep it a secret, therefore, I would trust her, she was my one and only niece after all.

"Do you promise?" I asked again, entirely serious.

"I promise!" Isabella doubled down, she wanted my answer and she was going to keep her promise.

"Okay," I took a deep breath "Yes Isabella, I do love Ippolita, I love her face, her voice...everything, but we have to keep it a secret, people don't like the idea of two women being together."

"Why not?" Isabella asked with childish curiosity.

"I wish that I knew how to answer that." I replied, she had a point.

"But...can't you just get married?" Isabella asked, she didn't even understand why it was wrong or abnormal yet...obviously I want my niece and my family to be tolerant of homosexuality but I need to make sure that my niece, the future Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont, understood that homosexuality was not the norm and that, under normal circumstances, gays and lesbians are persecuted over something that they cannot control. I know that one day, homosexuality will finally be accepted, but until then, my relationship with Ippolita will remain a secret and my successors are expected to slip into the usual European customs of heterosexual Catholic marriages and living out lives that are considered normal.

"I wish we could Isabella, but things just aren't that simple." I sighed, I may have been a Queen, I may have plans for my descendants to lead The House di Savoia into creating an Italian Empire, but not even an Empress would be able to get the populace of a Duchy, let alone a Kingdom or an Empire to tolerate homosexuality, because the populace considers it repulsive, they consider it unnatural, and they consider it unholy. I wasn't going to be able to manage to make any headway with The Catholic Church because something as radical as changing The Church's view on homosexuality would be used as ammunition by the protestants and other emerging heresies in order to paint The Papacy as corrupt, sinful, and indulgent - and admittedly, it wouldn't look good if The Church only decided to accept homosexuality because a Queen asked them to, the end result is good, however, that result coming from royalty certainly does paint a picture of elitism and damages the integrity of The Church - if The Pope represents God and The Church, then the implications of The Pope doing anything upon the request of any monarch are dangerous, if The Pope accepts my request for homosexuality to be accepted, what happens when The King of Spain asks for The King of France to be excommunicated? First of all, I doubt that Pope Constantinus II will accept anything I say, especially if it is against the established views of The Catholic Church, and second of all, if he did for whatever, that would introduce a slippery slope when it comes to royal requests to The Papacy. I sighed, there were so many obstacles in the way of getting acceptance for homosexuality that I have no hope that it will happen this century let alone within my lifespan.

* * *

I walked around The Palazzo di Torino rather aimlessly after my conversation with Isabella, I know that I dismissed the idea of homosexuality gaining any widespread acceptance any time soon, however, Isabella's question was stuck with me, why couldn't Ippolita and I get married? It couldn't be an official ceremony, obviously, but why couldn't the two of us have a ceremony with a Priest to imitate a marriage so that the two of us could feel like a married couple? I know that it would be entirely meaningless and all make believe, however, for the two of us, it would be worthwhile. I figured that Patriarch Marco I Bianchi appreciated my work in getting him promoted to the rank of the head of a Titular Patriarchate and to all the funding of his Churches, so I think that I could trust him to accept this and to keep it a secret - I know that he is a Holy man and that he isn't supposed to do anything like this, but I'm not asking him to publicly disobey The Church, just to give an unofficial ceremony mimicking a marriage. I wasn't sure if he would accept but I'm confidant that there's enough respect between the two of us that there was no harm in at least asking The Patriarch of Torino about it. I left The Palazzo di Torino and was about to travel through the gardens and head over to The Duomo Novo where Marco I will be, attending to his Cathedral, when I noticed a large group of soldiers under the command of Captain Ludovico - the head of the guards of The Palazzo di Torino, completely unrelated to Lord Ludovico Sforza of Imola, however, there are only so many names that are considered proper by Italian nobility, this is one of the reasons that so many monarchs, even in completely different countries with completely different royal Houses, share the same name or at least similar variations of that name - for instance, many, many Dukes of Savoy were named Amadeo. In any case, as these soldiers were practicing and drilling, I saw Gianmaria standing next to one of the columns of The Palazzo and silently yet eagerly observing the soldiers.

"Hello Gianmaria," I came up to my nephew, the future Duke of Ferrara and I greeted him "Do you like watching the soldiers?"

"Yes Aunt Teresa!" he replied eagerly, Gianmaria must have wanted to talk about this particular interest so much that he was able to disregard the divide between us and dive right into a conversation, he spoke of how impressive he found the soldiers marching in unison and perfect order - the soldiers were marched in perfect order until it became muscle memory, therefore, even under the stress of battle, where obviously they won't be able to stab or shoot as quickly or as precisely as during training, they will still be built up with the discipline to preform at a good enough level. Gianmaria talked about how he wanted to feel the weight of a pike in his hands or the feeling of shooting a firearm - I may have lead The Armata di Savoia and The Armata di Monferrato through The War for Romagna, however, leading armies as a monarch mainly consisting of using a horse as an elevated position to observe the battle and make strategic decisions, therefore, I haven't actually shot any firearms yet, though I am probably the most skilled woman with a rapier in Sardinia-Piedmont, if only because of a lack of swordswomen in my realm. I listened and contributed to the conversation with Gianmaria, I was hoping that he would appreciate how attentive I was and maybe this would be the beginning of breaking down the barriers between us, maybe Isabella will be more comfortable around me thanks to me being honest with her when it comes to my relationship with Ippolita, therefore, this may have been an instrumental day in forging a relationship with the twins, now, all there was left to do was to bring my relationship with Ippolita to the next step.

* * *

I stood in a room of The Palazzo di Torino wearing a white gown with golden trim, I looked down on myself with pride as I looked through the white veil hanging over my face - the long skirt of the dress was multilayered and elegant, coming up to a tight waist and a corset which brought up my chest nicely without being immodest, then I looked over the short sleeves of my dress to my bare tanned arm and then down my arm to my hand, locked together with Ippolita's hand. I looked up Ippolita's matching dress and over her beautiful body before seeing her perfect brown eyes underneath her white veil. We looked eyes briefly before she nodded, with that, the two of us took a deep breath and we entered the next room.

I had managed to convince Patriarch Marco I Bianchi to "marry" us, however, he had some conditions, first of all: the "wedding" would not take place within a Church, instead it would take place inside of The Palazzo di Torino - I was fine with it, I was well aware that this would not be considered a Holy marriage no matter where we did it, the two of us just wanted to feel like we had gone through a marriage ceremony. The second is that he would not accept any audience at all to this ceremony, which is fine, there is only a handful of people who know about our relationship anyway and all of them will learn about the "wedding" anyway, and I understand that The Patriarch of Torino didn't want to have his reputation as a Holy man tarnished by these rumors of a lesbian wedding. Finally, The Patriarch said that he would not refer to us as brides or as wives, nor would he mention God in this ceremony, which is understandable because, while he was willing to do this favor for me and keep it as a secret, but he would not treat this as a Holy marriage, which again, is fully understandable and Ippolita and I would have to deal with it.

We entered the other room and Patriarch Marco I gave his version of the ceremony and allowed us to tell our vows to each other - I promised Ippolita that I would be loyal, that I would love her for the rest of my life, and that I was not going to let my position as The Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont get in the way of our relationship. Ippolita promised me that she would always be there for me, that she would care for me, and that she wanted to die with me.

"Queen Teresa I di Savoia," Patriarch Marco asked "Do you accept Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato as the love of your life?"

"I do," I replied, The Patriarch managed to avoid using the term wife, albeit rather awkwardly.

"Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato, do you accept Teresa di Savoia as the love of your life?" The Patriarch turned to my lover.

"I do," she replied.

"You may kiss." He proclaimed, Ippolita and I pulled up our veils and closed the distance between us with a kiss, The Patriarch and The Church would never admit it, however, as far as I'm concerned, Ippolita is now my wife and we would live the rest of our lives together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For better or worse, this has been chapter twenty-four. The next and final chapter is an epilogue type chapter, now, I'm not entirely happy with that chapter either, I think what I was doing was setting up a lot of potential plot threads for other EU4 inspired works, but, at this point, I'm not going to touch those particular plot points. The chapter does give the fate of the characters and countries involved in this story and, overall, I'm more happy with that than the rest of that epilogue, but it will be posted next regardless. I hope you enjoy.


	25. The Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, the final chapter, the epilogue. This was the first novel like story I had written to completion and I'm glad to have gotten the chance to post it onto another site. I've grown as a writer and a person since then, but this will always be my first story so I think that it's fitting that it's the first one I post on AO3. I will wait and see how this goes before deciding whether or not I should post my other stuff. The editing isn't that bad, I probably wouldn't complain if I was editing these chapters for AO3 as I was writing them, but the problem is that I'm going through and doing all twenty-five chapters in two days. My other big, complete story, The Legacy of The Romans from FFN, would be forty chapters to edit and post here, that honestly seems like a drag to do all at once, but, if the readership and reactions here are good, I'll definitely consider it and find a way to make the editing manageable.

Act V.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont.

Chapter XXV.

The Epilogue.

* * *

Queen Teresa I di Savoia of Sardinia-Piedmont and Ippolita Paleologo-Monferrato would remain together for the rest of their lives, secretly living on as lovers forever grateful to Patriarch Marco I of Torino for enacting a pseudo-marriage ceremony - the two of them would honor their vows and their marriage, because, even though it was secret and even though it wasn't official, to the two of them, it was as real as it would ever get. Teresa di Savoia lead Sardinia-Piedmont into a golden age of art, culture, and trade, her court became an example for courts across The Italian world, abandoning French and Latin as the languages of the elite and replacing them with Italian dialects, the artists and architects that she became the patron of became world famous, leading to Torino becoming a center of The Late Renaissance, and finally, Sardinia-Piedmont's location and the strong navy that Queen Teresa I would build later on into her reign allowed it to grow very rich and very powerful as Spain abandoned Mediterranean dominance in favor of doubling down on its colonies and the traditional naval masters of Venezia and Genoa declined rapidly, culminating in Sardinia-Piedmont conquering Genoa in 1589 when Queen Teresa I was forty-eight years old while their ally-by-circumstance in Venezia would fall to Milano two years later.

The Duchy of Milan was finally able to accomplish the mission of Duke Filippo Maria II Sforza and form The Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto, incorporating Venetian possessions in Italia, including Venezia itself, however, The Venetian government would remain in power, ruling over The Istrian Peninsula as well as a few islands in Greece, most notably, Crete, however, without its floating city of marble, The Repubblica Serenissima would never again rise to prominence and eventually, Crete was quietly conquered by The Acciaioli Dukes of Athens while Istria was annexed by Austria. Milano would remain the capital of Lombardia-Veneto despite the acquisition of Venezia, however, Filippo Maria II would take the name King Filippo I, signifying that this new realm was distinct from the old Duchy of Milan. The Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto would soon expand into Switzerland as well, seizing the two cantons agreed upon in The Treaty of Milano and in The 17th Century, The Sforza would happily take to absolutism and strip away the power of The Milanese and Venetian nobility. Lombardia-Veneto would grow in power in the second half of The 1600s, however, in the process, relations between The Kingdom of France and The Kingdom of Lombardia-Veneto would worsen and, in 1691, a century after the formation of Lombardia-Veneto, The French would secretly support their puppet state, The Helvetic Republic - a successor state to The Swiss Confederation formed by Francophone nobles opposed to Italian expansion into their country and submission to The Germans of The Holy Roman Empire - and The Duchy of Ferrara in a war against The Lombards.

This war, The Partition of Lombardia-Veneto would see Duke Gianmaria IV di Savoia of Ferrara and two different Swiss governors on one side and The Lombards on the other - The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont was allied to Lombardia-Veneto, however, given that Ferrara was also an ally of Sardinia-Piedmont and Gianmaria IV was the second-cousin of Queen Isabella III of Sardinia-Piedmont, The Kingdom was neutral and both sides respected its neutrality in fear that if they didn't, then Sardinia-Piedmont would enter the war on the opposite side. The war resulted in Helvetic and Ferraranese victory, with Lombardia-Veneto returning The Swiss cantons to The Helvetic Republic, meanwhile, Gianmaria IV received Modena as well as the former Papal land of Romagna, including Bologna, Imola, and Forli. The Duchy of Ferrara was now much larger and had control of Modena once again, however, while Gianmaria IV was a very capable general, he failed to produce a heir and when he died young in 1702, The Duchy of Ferrara was incorporated into Sardinia-Piedmont once again, this time permanently.

The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont continued to flourish after the death of Queen Teresa I di Savoia in 1617 at the age of seventy-six, Isabella I had learned much from her aunt and was able to consolidate her mothers possessions, including Genoa. Isabella I and Pope Guglielmus II would hold The First Congress of Italia in Firenze in 1622, here, an agreement was drafted that The Italian states would remain at peace with each other and also, The Medici who had long operated as the overlords of The Repubblica di Firenze were named as Grand Dukes of Toscana following their recent conquest of The Republics of Siena and Lucca, thus, the last remaining significant Republics in Italia were no more, replaced with a Grand Duchy. These Italian leaders, and eventually, the leaders of The Italian dominated Crusader states in Greece - The Duchy of Athens, The Duchy of The Archipelago, and The Duchy of Corfu - would continue to meet as The Congress of Italia on a semi-annual basis in order to maintain a balance of power between the various states and try and act in the best interests of a collective Italian identity in order to usher the states towards an eventual unification, though no one could agree who should lead The Italians, whether it be a monarch, The Pope, or something else entirely. Sardinia-Piedmont would continue to dominate The Congress of Italia through the reign of Isabella II despite Lombardia-Veneto's brief period of strength and absolutism, and when Isabella III inherited The Duchy of Ferrara in 1702, Sardinia-Piedmont was practically guaranteed to almost always dominate Italian politics.

The Congress of Italia, along with Bishops from all around Europe, The Holy Roman Emperor, The Kings of France, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark would meet in Venezia and attempt to address the question of protestantism once and for all given that the heresy at this point had spread across The Electors of Bohemia and Cologne, as well as powerful non-electing states such as Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and much of The Hanseatic League, meaning that this heresy was in danger of spreading outside of The Holy Roman Empire. The Council of Venezia reformed much of The Church and established The Jesuits to combat the spread of The Protestant Reformation, this became known as The Counter Reformation. The Counter Reformation was not enough and soon The War of The Protestant League began, with Bohemia leading the protestants with aid from The Ottomans who saw this as an opportunity to push into Hungary while The Habsburgs were distracted, however, The Pope ensured that The Europeans would cooperate and managed to bring together countries in such a way that seemed practically impossible, during the war French troops welcomed British reinforcements landing in Calais with open arms before they marched off together towards Cologne, Swedes and Danes put aside their territorial struggles and cooperated to tear Pomerania and The Hanseatic League apart, and The Habsburgs, with Polish and Lithuanian aid, crushed The Bohemians. The Treaty of Frankfurt would strip protestant princes of their land and outlaw the heresy, Mecklenburg, Lubeck, Stade, Bremen, Oldenburg, and Hamburg were given to Denmark for their aid in order to serve as a larger buffer zone - The Danes were already Imperial princes due to inheriting The County Palatinate of The Rhine back when both were ruled by The House von Wittelsbach, meanwhile, Sweden would gain all of Pomerania, meaning that Denmark and Sweden now were competing over land and influence in The Holy Roman Empire as well as Scandinavia. Cologne and its neighboring protestant principalities were incorporated into The Duchy of Cleves and given to Brandenburg as they were unhappy that they didn't gain any land from their neighbors in Pomerania or Bohemia. The Kingdom of Bohemia was given to The Habsburgs and thus, despite being practically the hereditary Holy Roman Emperors, only just now gained an electorate. The War of The Protestant League devastated The Holy Roman Empire and would lead to over a century of foreign powers dominating Imperial politics and, in the end, giving land to outside Catholic powers would perhaps harm The Holy Roman Empire more than widespread heresies ever could.

The Rise of The Scandinavians on continental Europe would affect more than just The Holy Roman Empire because once Denmark, Sweden, and Norway recovered from The War of The Protestant League they forged an alliance with The Grand Duchy of Muscovy and The Austrian Habsburgs with a plan to divide the fringe regions of The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth amongst themselves and to finally deal with their ally, The Grand Republic of Novgorod who, much to the chagrin of Muscovy, under intense Polish pressure, The Republic converted to Catholicism. Muscovy would gain land from Lithuania that were on the border as well as The Crimean Peninsula and neighboring territories ensuring that The Muscovites had access to The Black Sea, which was much more profitable than their only current port, which is Arkhangelsk on The White Sea, additionally, Muscovy would gain the more populated southern regions of the former Grand Republic of Novgorod, including the site of its former capital, the city that lent its name to The Republic. Austria would gain some land in Galicia and thus the northern border of Hungary was secured by a buffer zone. The Duchies of Kurland, Livland, Estland, and Latgale were granted independence from The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, stripping them of their rich northern Baltic provinces, though these entities were supposed to answer to The Swedish crown, this rarely happened and they would eventually be annexed by The Kingdom of Saint Petersburg. The Kingdom of Saint Petersburg was named for the new capital of Novgorod developed on The Baltic Coast, this new Kingdom consisted of the northern territory of The Republic and was placed under the control of a cadet branch of The Danish royal family, however, that cadet branch, The House von Sankt-Peterburg would soon inherit Denmark. Dano-Saint Petersburg and Sweden would soon partitioned Norway and eventually combine to form The Empire of Scandinavia.

The Scandinavian Empire would control The Baltic Sea as well as The White Sea from The Kola Peninsula and The Bay of Onega, this would force The Grand Duchy of Muscovy, now known as The Tsardom of Russia, to depend on ports in The Black Sea and on The Pacific Ocean for access to the sea, leading to the rapid development of cities such as Sevastopol in Crimea and Vladivostok in Manchuria. The Russians would not betray their Scandinavian allies due to Russia's presence in The Black Sea angering The Ottomans and their presence on The Pacific angering The Chinese, being at war with those two would be difficult enough, a third front in the north would destroy Russia's army, therefore, Russia could not anger their only ally on their borders or else the results would be disastrous. Russia would have to choose its battles carefully and, in the end, this meant that The Black Sea region, The Pacific Coast, and more areas along the fringes of Russia were much more developed and much more important than they would have been had Russia devoted its resources to The Baltic Sea and the west rather than their own extensive territory. This is not to say that Russia was entirely peaceful, because The Tsardom and The Congress of Italia would find themselves as unlikely allies against The Ottoman Empire.

The Ottomans would seize Crete from The Duchy of Athens in 1735, this would prompt Athens to call in the rest of The Congress of Italia in a war against The Ottomans, meanwhile, a number of Christian states in The Balkans such as The United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, The Tsardom of Bulgaria, The Principality of Albania, and The Kingdom of Serbia would appeal to Russia to overthrow their Ottoman overlords and establish independence, The Russians and Italians saw the timing as perfect and forged an alliance between each other. The Ottomans would surrender in 1749 and The Duchy of Athens would regain Crete as well as the entirety of The Peloponnese and Euboea, establishing Athens as the dominant power in Greece over Corfu and The Duchy of The Archipelago. The United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia would gain their independence along with some coastal territory east of Wallachia and establish The Kingdom of Romania. The Tsardom of Bulgaria would gain their independence, as would Serbia and Albania, this would limit Ottoman land in Europe to northern Greece, Macedonia, and Constantinople as Bosnia had become an Austrian puppet state. The loss of so much Balkan land would lead to The Ottomans rapidly declining and The Sultan's old dream of an Empire stretching from The Tigris and The Euphrates in the east to The Nile in the west to The Danube in the north, The Ottomans would never be able to threaten Hungary again, let alone stand a chance of ever besieging Vienna again. The complete change in the balance of power of eastern Europe would send shockwaves throughout The Old World as The Shia Islamic Persian Empire harried The Ottomans in the east and revolts in Egypt threatened to push The Turks out of Africa entirely, meanwhile, the alliances between The Romanians, The Bulgarians, The Serbians, and The Albanians would crumble as all of them tried to fill the void left behind by The Turk, meanwhile, The Athenians, Ionians, and Naxians had paved the way for The Congress of Italia to not only be able to eventually create an Italian state, but to bring all of The Greek world under Italian control for the first time since the days of The Roman Empire. Italian unification became more and more realistic as states become more and more absolutist and centralized and as The Congress of Italia became a codified and permanent institution, however, The Italian states were all strong enough that no one was fully able to subjugate the others and form Italia.

The Kingdoms of Naples, Lombardia-Veneto, and Sardinia-Piedmont remained allies after The War for Romagna but the alliances did not change the fact that the three Kingdoms were legitimately rivals and all of them wanted to be the ones to become Kings or Emperors of Italia. The Kingdom of Naples was the oldest of The Kingdoms however The House di Napoli was the youngest of the royal houses and had few links to other dynasties because The Neapolitan Kings had tended to take wives from either their fellow Italian states or from their close friends in The House of Aviz who ruled The Kingdom of Portugal which means that The Neapolitan monarchs aren't particular prestigious outside of Italia or Portugal. The House of Sforza was not much older than The House di Napoli and the monarchs of Europe remember that The Sforza had been mercenary captains before they became Dukes of Milan, however, The Sforza claim descent from The Visconti via a bastard line which would make The House significantly older, additionally, the cities of Milano and Venezia are among the greatest cities in all of Renaissance Italia along with Roma, therefore, The Kings of Lombardia-Veneto have the cultural justification to lead Italian unification. The House di Savoia has mainly managed to shed the legacy of their French origin, however, their claims to an Italian throne are disputed due to Sardinia-Piedmont's long line of Queens rather than Kings, many of the agnatic states of Italia did not want their state to be ruled by a Queen. The Grand Duchy of Toscana also wanted to be the ones to lead Italian unification, however, Toscana had to deal with the fact that they were a Grand Duchy and thus they were legally below The Kingdoms of Italia and religiously they were subservient to The Papal States, however, The Medici did have the banking power to influence the rest of Italia and beyond as their Florentine forefathers managed to give out loans and commit usury which The Medieval Papacy was vehemently opposed to, however, that all changed in The Renaissance era and The House de Medici grew incredibly rich and the elected rulers of Firenze became puppets to The Medici. The Pope was already the religious leader of The Italians and it made sense that he wanted to become the secular leader of Italia as well, but The Kingdoms were powerful enough to ensure that The Papal States were not able to create a unified Italian state, additionally, The College of Cardinals could elect foreigners to The Papacy and thus all the work done to create an Italia ruled by Italians could be undone with that rapidity - not to mention the fact that lingering scars remained from The War for Romagna when The Papal States had fought The Neapolitan, Milanese, and Savoyard, who would then become The Kingdoms surrounding it. Italia could become a unified state, however greed and power remain the biggest obstacles towards that goal and leave The Italian states in a permanent impasse as years upon years go by without a unified state.

The Holy Roman Empire would remain in a similar state as, while The Electors were content to name The Habsburg heirs as Kings of The Germans - The King of The Germans was the title of an uncrowned Holy Roman Emperor - they would ensure that the position of Holy Roman Emperor was essentially meaningless and The Electors would have free reign. The biggest example of this is that The Emperor of Scandinavia is an Elector because The Kingdom of Denmark had inherited The County-Palatinate of The Rhine and thus the electorate, therefore when The Queen of Dano-Saint Petersburg and The Queen of Sweden agreed to unify their realms and reign as co-Empresses with the younger sister of The Queen of Dano-Saint Petersburg marrying a cousin of The Queen of Sweden, thus the heirs would be husband and wife and their child would be the sole Emperor of Scandinavia. This is completely unprecedented as the only time before this that two Catholic monarchs have held the title of Emperor at once was when The Holy Roman Empire in Germania and The Latin Empire in Greece shared a brief coexistence before The Byzantine Empire reconquered Constantinople and crushed The Latins, but even then, those Emperors did not interact with one another, now, we have one Emperor explicitly choosing another, especially given that The Scandinavian Emperor held The Palatinate and Pomerania in The Holy Roman Empire. Imperial authority was also disregarded by The Hohenzollern Duchy of Brandenburg-Cleves which already controlled two distinct regions of land, one centered around Berlin, the other centered around Cleves, decided that they should have even more disconnected land and saw the crumbling remains of The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as an excellent target, and thus, The House of Hohenzollern would conquer all of Silesia, which used to belong to The Holy Roman Empire as well, and they would conquer the old land of The Teutonic Order in Prussia. Brandenburg shared a border with Silesia, Cleves was a distant possession near The Spanish Netherlands, and Prussia was separated from Brandenburg by Scandinavian Pomerania. This realm was not a continuous territory, however, it was a large and grand territory, therefore, The Hohenzollern created The Kingdom of Prussia, which would come to haunt The Austrians in a struggle for supremacy that would eventually tear The Holy Roman Empire in half.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in disarray as The House Jagellon had to bankrupt it self over and over and over again bribing The Polish nobles to elect them as Kings of Poland and Grand Dukes of Lithuania, leaving the crown too poor to effectively fight its neighbors as they widdle away at The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's borders. Silesia and Prussia were lost to The Germans, Galicia was lost to The Austrians, Estonia and Latvia were lost to The Scandinavians, Ryazan and Crimea were lost to The Russians, and their vassal, The Principality of Moldavia was inherited by The Draculesti Principality of Wallachia, which was a vassal to The Ottomans, therefore, one ruler was paying lip service to two vestigial realms, eventually culminating in The United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia forming The Kingdom of Romania. The Lithuanian nobility, seeing all the land that they have gained since joining with Poland to create The Commonwealth lost, decided that the writing was on the wall and in 1753, The Grand Duchy of Lithuania declared independence with a hereditary monarchy, rejecting the elective nonsense of Poland, however, a minor member of The Jagellon dynasty who was thoroughly Lithuanian was chosen as their Grand Duke. The Poles had no answer to this and The Jagellons were voted out of power as a much small, much less important Poland whose monarchs were often foreign nobles who impressed The Polish nobility, therefore, the country that was once the most powerful country in Europe, the country that was considered as The Defender of Catholicism, the country that once stretched from The Black Sea to The Baltic Sea was now just a playground for foreign nobles who weren't going to inherit in their home realms.

That was the plan at least, because in 1799 King Rene VI and II of France and Jerusalem died and the only suitable heir was King Louis I of Poland, with the full might of France behind him and a massive change in politics across The Channel from France meant that The House de Valois needed yet another realm to boost their strength in preparation for what would turn out to be one of the bloodiest wars in European history. France and Jerusalem were already joined because of the death of King Rene IV without a heir meant that The French throne was meant to pass to his brother, the husband of Queen Isabelle I de Valois-Anjou of Jerusalem, however, Isabelle's husband was killed a month earlier during a skirmish against The Mamluks which resulted in Jerusalem annexing The Sinai Peninsula but losing their King-Consort. Therefore, the supremely unlikely event of Therese de Valois becoming The Queen of France was realized and her mother acted as Regent of France until Therese was sixteen and her mother was assassinated by French nobles who thought that the young Therese, who was now Queen of France and Jerusalem would be easy to control, however, Therese was just as competent as her namesake and she had an ally in her childhood friend in Sardinia-Piedmont, therefore, Queen Therese suppressed the nobility and won a Succession War against The Spanish, returning The Free County of Burgundy and The Crown of Navarra to Spain but gaining recognition and creating an alliance with Spain and Austria because of an alarming turn of events across The English Channel.

The English took advantage of turmoil in France to attack and conquer Scotland, which was supposed to be protected by France, however, noble uprising and war with Spain meant that France was preoccupied, therefore, Scotland was conquered and The King of England became The King of Great Britain. The French, Austrians, and Spaniards immediately noticed and allied together to prevent The British from using their new found strength to try and regain their territory in Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony lost in the final phases of The Hundred Years War. The British were smart enough to avoid a conflict and they spend the next century conquering Ireland and colonizing parts of North America while The French, Spanish, and Austrians eventually turned their attention elsewhere. Great Britain did help in the war against the protestants which helped ease tensions again, however, in the late 1700s, the situation had changed radically. The Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had lost most of their colonies in North America with The American War for Independence establishing The United States, the mighty British navy was defeated by mere colonials and the monarchy was blamed for this massive blunder. This lead to The House of York being overthrown on August 5th, 1782 in The British Revolution. Revolutionary Britain saw itself as the epitome of The Enlightenment and would spend the next fifteen years crushing monarchist revolts throughout The British Isles before turning its attention to spreading The Revolution to Continental Europe.

Revolutionary Britain was quickly at war against France, Austria, Spain, Scandinavia, Prussia, and Russia, however, by circumstance Great Britain was allied with The Kingdom of Portugal who wanted to grow its colonial Empire and The Grand Duchy of Lithuania which wanted to conquer Poland and reestablish The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a hereditary monarchy dominated by The Lithuanians rather than an elective monarchy dominated by The Poles. The British quickly reconquered Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony, incorporating them into The Revolutionary Republic directly before continuing on into France with the goal of overthrowing The French monarchy and establishing a British aligned protectorate. The Portuguese meanwhile battled The Spanish in a few skirmishes before continuing on to their real goal of a conquest of Morocco - neither Portugal nor Spain liked having an Islamic state across The Straits of Gibraltar from them, however, neither of them wanted the other to rule over the territory, however, Portugal, finally backed by a Great Britain that's actually interested in continental affairs - if only for the sake of overthrowing every other monarchy and establishing weak puppet Republics all over Europe - Portugal was able to conquer Morocco regardless of what the once mighty Spanish Empire had to say about it. The Portuguese monarchy was smart however, they knew that the vehemently anti-monarchist Revolutionary Britain may turn on them after Spain was dealt with, therefore, The Portuguese made sure that progress on The Iberian peninsula was slow and inconclusive, meanwhile, the colony of Brazil was fully incorporated into the realm as a potential destination to escape to in case of a British invasion, therefore, The Kingdom of Portugal became The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and The Algarve. Portugal incorporating Brazil, a colony in South America, and The Algarve, which literally referred to land west of The Straits of Gibraltar, however, to The Portuguese, it referred to the southern most parts of Portugal which were the last to be reclaimed from The Moors as well as their lands in Morocco, but incorporating these two realms as constituent Kingdoms was unprecedented. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was caught between French Poland and Prussia in the west and Russia in the east, however, they were able to hold the line at the borders until British reinforcements arrived to conquer Poland and beyond that, to undertake the hurculean task of invading Russia.

The Congress of Italia was divided on how to proceed, Sardinia-Piedmont, Lombardia-Veneto, Toscana, and The Papal States were prepared to support The French and their allies against Revolutionary Britain, Portugal, and Lithuania, along with their various puppet states created as Great Britain tore their way across northern Europe, such as The Batavian Republic created out of The Spanish Netherlands, The Cisrhenian Republic created out of The Prussian Duchy of Cleves, and The Jutland Republic in Denmark which was occupied by Great Britain from Scandinavia in an attempt to keep The Scandinavians out of Continental Europe. The Kingdom of Naples however sided with their Portuguese allies and Great Britain, therefore The Congress of Italia was at war with itself. The Neapolitan troops invaded The Papal States and crushed The Papal army before they could even mobilize, they were betrayed. The Papal States were dissolved and The Pope's land was limited to The Vatican itself in a microstate called Vatican City, the rest of The Papal States were divided into two states, the much larger one was The Roman Republic built on The Revolutionary British model, and the smaller one was The Duchy of Urbino which had been a state during the early Renaissance before being annexed by The Papal States. The Neapolitan continued north and occupied Parma from The Lombards, establishing The Duchy of Parma. The rules of war had changed it seems, treaties weren't needed any more, coronations weren't needed any more, states could be created out of thin air as armies rampaged around Europe, therefore Sardinian troops counterattacked and created an independent Kingdom of Sicily and pushed Neapolitan troops off of the island.

The British Armies continued to crush foreign armies all over the continent under the command of Alexander Windsor, an amazingly talented general who rewrote the rules of war while conquering his way through Europe. Great Britain may have been enjoying military success under the new Republican administration, however, The Revolutionary Republic tried to eliminate every last trace of monarchy and nobility, mobs of thugs marched through the streets and lynched anyone who they could accuse of being a counter-revolutionary, and The Republic tried to completely secularize Britain after The Pope excommunicated the entire Revolutionary Council in response to their role in the creation of The Roman Republic and limiting The Pope to Vatican City. All of this lead to a massive counter-revolution which culminated in The Revolutionary Council being executed - now, Alexander Windsor was about to return to The British Isles and crush the counter-revolution when the nobles offered him the position of Emperor of Great Britain, needless to say, human greed won out and Windsor marched into Russia as Emperor Alexander I of Great Britain intent on continuing his run of conquests and crush yet another one of Europe's great powers. This would prove to be Alexander's undoing as while he was deep in Russia, France reclaimed their Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony whilst Spain reconquered The Netherlands and Prussia retook Cleves. Alexander was defeated and killed in The Battle of Tsaritsyn, having had proved himself entirely unworthy of his name and his title. Alexander's young son William ascended to the throne and he brought the war and The Revolution to and end, The Revolutionary Republics were dissolved all around Europe, but, The Roman Republic did not go to The Pope, because in 1807, Cardinal Stefano Paleologo-Monferrato, who was distantly related to Lady Ippolita of Torino, became Pope Urbanus XI and he allowed The Roman Republic, including Roma itself, to become part of Sardinia-Piedmont, Urbino was also annexed while Parma was restored to Lombardia-Veneto. The Sicilian puppet Kingdom would be inherited by The House di Savoia before too long and thus, Queen Teresa II of Sardinia-Piedmont was the most powerful monarch in Italia by 1822 when The Kings of Naples and Lombardia-Veneto, along with The Grand Duke of Toscana, all submitted to Sardinia-Piedmont and Teresa II became The Empress of Italia, meanwhile, The Acciaioli Dukes of Athens used The Revolutionary Wars as an opportunity to annex its neighbors in Corfu and The Archipelago, slip out of The Congress of Italia, and conquer land from The Ottomans in order to create The Kingdom of Greece, though this was a Catholic and Italian speaking state nonetheless. Italia was not pleased with losing their Greek lands to this upstart Kingdom created out of this most chaotic time period in European history, however, The 19th Century would be a period of peace as The Europeans turned their attention away from each other and onto the rest of the world.

The Empire of Italia would conquer Tunisia and Libya from The Sultanate of Tunis, recreating The Roman province of Africa, as well as Eritrea, Somalia, and, after some difficulties, The Coptic Ethiopian Empire would become part of The Italian Empire. Italia's African possessions would be limited to Tunisia and Libya along with the entire Horn of Africa region, however, this small Empire would be an advantage as The Italians would be able to fully incorporate these territories through immigration and conversion. Italia would also gain trade concessions in both China and Japan. The Italians would not be able to match the vast colonial Empires of Great Britain who carved up much of Africa, as well as ruling all of India and Australia, France, who claimed virtually all of West Africa other than some small coastal colonies and Portuguese Morocco, and Spain, whose Empire stretched from the southern tip of South America to California, however, The Italians would be powerful enough and rich enough to be respected all around the world, Teresa I would become a national hero and, as the truth behind her relationship with Lady Ippolita emerged in The 21rst Century, she would become a gay icon as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, as I said in the author's note for chapter twenty-four, I'm not entirely happy with this epilogue anymore, but I understand what my younger self was trying to do and I like this story as a whole. The writing itself a bit flawed, a lot of the terminology is just too modern - like, I'm writing these stories in modern, American English, but using very modern slang and phrases just seems too anachronistic, and I've tried to correct that in more recent stories - and some of the ideas are poorly executed, but still, overall, I like this story. I think I had some really good ideas and I executed them relatively well considering I was only sixteen at the time, and I hope you liked it too.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so that was the first chapter, I hope you liked it. The rest of the story should be posted as well, provided I didn't break anything trying this.


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